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SPANISH GOVERNMENT SEEKS SETTLEMENT WITH ETA
DESIGNED BY ANTI-TERRORISM PACT

- Promise reform of special policy applied to ETA prisoners
- Postpone political debate on Basque provinces in Spain

Euskal Herria Journal, October 5, 1998

Spain's Prime Minister Jose Maria Aznar announced on Friday that the
government would open a peace process if ETA makes its truce a permanent one.
He read the announcement outside the presidential palace in Madrid where he
had just finished a first round of talks with leading politicians to forge a
united front in response to the ETA truce.

The self-defined `Revolutionary and socialist organization' Euskadi Ta
Askatasuna (ETA, Basque Homeland and Freedom) last month announced a total,
indefinite ceaserfire which began on September 18.

The ETA communique states that the armed organization is waiting for reactions
to decide whether to make the truce a permanent one, which would entail a
laying down of arms.

But Spanish media analysts report the truce is "irreversible" and that the
face-saving nationalist agreement that preceded it attest to that.

The ETA truce followed the Lizarra Declaration, a Basque nationalist agreement
issued on September 12.

The carefully-worded document known as the Lizarra Declaration calls for an
open and unconditioned dialogue between all parties in the conflict. It was
sponsored by the left-wing Basque political party Herri Batasuna (HB) and
backed by the conservative Basque Nationalist Party (PNV), the leading
political group in the regional parliament of Bascongadas -- three of the four
Basque provinces in Spain.

The Spanish government rejected the Lizarra Declaration calling it "a
mockery."

Prime Minister Aznar stated in his declaration on Friday that the peace
process would be separated from a political debate or process on Basque
demands, and established as designed by the 1986 anti-terrorism Pact of Ajuria
Enea agreed by national and regional political parties in Bascongadas.

A first stage of the peace process would include the relaxation of the
prisoners policy, including moving the Basque political prisoners (ETA)
prisoners to jails near the Basque provinces, social reinsertion, parole, and
finally, amnesty; and economic aid to "the victims of terrorism." The
political debate would be postponed for later on as suggested by the Basque
Nationalist Party.

Aznar's proposal for peace talks does not demand that ETA decomission arms but
ask the armed organization to make its truce a permanent one.

The text seeks to incorporate what Aznar may have agreed in his first round of
talks with leading politicians: the three articles of the anti-terrorism Pact
of Ajuria Enea which refer to "a negotiated end to the violence":

Article 9:

     " As a result of the resolutions adopted unanimously by the Basque
Parliament, we consider valid and therefore give our support to the means of
assimilating into society those persons that decide or have decided to abandon
the use of violence and to defend their ideas through democratic channels,
respecting in each case the decisions adopted by the state institutions with
competencies in this regard."

Article 10:

     " If suitable conditions arise for a negotiated end to the violence,
grounded in a clear willingness to put an end to such violence and in
unequivocal attitudes that give a clear indication of such willingness, we
give our support to a process of dialogue between the competent state
authorities and those who decide to abandon violence, respecting at all times
the irrevocable democratic principle that political issues should be resolved
solely through the legitimate representatives of the people's will."

Article 12:

     "We reiterate our support of the text agreed by the Human Rights'
Commission of the Basque Parliament at the meeting held on May 13, 1987
concerning aid to victims of terrorist attacks and their families."

Last week, the Spanish government indicated that there may be a "humanitarian
gesture" for Basque political prisoners, such as in the case of seriously ill
prisoners, without giving specifics as to what the gesture would involve.

Basque political prisoners on trial in Madrid said last week that they object
to being used as hostages by the Spanish government, and demanded to be
allowed to participate in the political negotiations.

But a political debate or negotiations on the future of the four Basque
provinces in Spain (Bascongadas and Navarre) would be excluded from the peace
process.

Last week Aznar met with the president of the Basque Nationalist Party, Xabier
Arzalluz in a closed-door session at the presidential palace in Madrid.
Arzalluz "guaranteed" Aznar that a political debate on Basque demands (i.e.
self-determination, a reform of the Spanish constitution, and the unity of
Bascongadas and Navarre), would be excluded from the peace process, the
Spanish press reported.

Another PNV leader, Jose Antonio Ardanza, told a news conference in Brussels
last month that in order to separate the ETA truce and a solution to the ETA
prisoners, from a political process, negotiations should be postponed till
year 2000.

Ardanza, the major architect of the anti-terrorism Pact of Ajuria Enea, issued
a peace proposal for multiparty talks. The Ardanza proposal issued in March
holds that the conflict is among Basques and not between Euskal Herria and
Madrid/Paris, and excludes ETA from political negotiations.

After his meeting in Madrid with Aznar, Arzalluz told a newsconference that
his party backs the Ardanza proposal. He also promoted the creation of "a new
Basque committee" (a recycled anti-terrorism Pact of Ajuria Enea committee?)
that would include Herri Batasuna.

Fearing it would be left out from a possible settlement, the PNV has long
opposed political negotiations between the government and ETA. The PNV
boycotted talks in Algeria between the government and ETA in 1989.

Spanish media analysts hold that although the Lizarra Declaration, backed by
the PNV, calls for multilateral talks between all parties in the conflict, the
text was explicity chosen and necessary to have the document backed by the ETA
militancy. That is, the signatories of the Lizarra Declaration know that the
only possible negotiations between ETA and the government would entail seeking
a solution to the situation of the Basque political prisoners.

The immediate priorities of the signatories of the Lizarra Declaration, said
the Spanish daily El Pais on Monday, include looking for internal as well as
external support to the process proposed by the Declaration, and to prepare
the text for debate of the two key aspects of the document : the recognition
of the territoriality of Euskal Herria, and the right of self-determination.

Basque and Spanish politicians are currently exploring Article 1 of the
Spanish constitution's Additional Provisions which they say satifies
nationalist demands.

"The constitution is open to the political process," It would have to be re-
interpreted according to the current political situation," said Miguel Herrero
Miqon, one of the "founding fathers" of the Spanish constitution of 1978. For
Herrero Miqon, self-determination, which "is not the same as independence," is
found in the constitution and there is no need for a constitutional
reform to recognize this right.

Article 1 of the Additional Provisions "protects and respects the historic
rights of the territories with "fueros" [special laws] -- Bascongadas and
Navarre, the Euskal Herria in Spain.

According to Article 1, "the general updating of the "fuero" system shall be
carried out, when appropriate, within the framework of the Constitution and of
the Statutes of Autonomy."

Notwithstanding the agreement between the nationalists, says the newspaper,
the separation of the peace process from political negotiations proposed by
the PNV and backed by Prime Minister Aznar, would need the support of all the
signatories
of the Lizarra Declaration and ETA -- who reminds that a permanent ceasefire
will not come until there is a clear willingness and compromise to face the
causes of the conflict as stated in the "resolution phase" of the Declaration.

The Road to the Anti-Terrorism Pact of Ajuria Enea

In February 1983, Madrid launched the Zona Especial Norte, (ZEN, Special North
Zone), a political and military plan against ETA activists and supporters
coordinated by the police and political institutions.

The `Anti-Terrorist Groups of Liberation' (GAL, Grupos Anti-terroristas de
Liberacisn) run and financed by Spain's ministry of Interior began its
campaign of bombing, kidnapping and murder of Basque refugees in the north of
Euskal Herria in France. GAL killed at least 28 people and injured hundreds --
including women and children.

France has denied any role in Spain's dirty war but allegations have been made
that French police helped GAL death squads wage war on Basque refugees.

The Spanish dirty war resulted in a greater cooperation between France and
Spain to end the "Basque problem" by police action. But Spain's lack of
legitimacy in the south of Euskal Herria in Spain (the Spanish constitution of
1978 was approved by only one-third of the electorate) required the
cooperation of the Basque sector in control of the regional government.

A Madrid conference on violence, politics and terrorism organized by the
Spanish media group Grupo 16 took place in Madrid in 1984. Leading Basque and
Spanish politicians, journalists and media people participated in the
conference.

The conference issued the Madrid Declaration on Terrorism, ratified in 1986 by
representatives of national and regional political parties -- including the
Basque Nationalist Party.

In 1985, while the GAL death squads were in full campaign, ETA killed a
Spanish army colonel and chief of the regional police of Bascongadas, Carlos
Diaz Arcocha. The PNV saw the killing as a personal attack.

After the execution of Diaz Arcocha, the PNV proposed a political strategy
against ETA, including rallies, media propaganda, a plan to promote
"citizenship consciousness"; and a commission of international experts to
study violence in Euskal Herria and how to stop it. The PNV project proposal
was approved by the Bascongadas parliament.

A report of the Commission of Experts was issued on April 1986. Members of the
commission included Clive Rose (Britain's ambassador to NATO), Peter Janke
(head of British Institute for the study of conflicts), Hans Joseph Horchem
(German right-wing party Conservative Action). The experts report concluded
that the political nature of Basque terrorism required the cooperation of
Basques to fight it and reccomended the following:

- More power to the regional police of Bascongadas to fight terrorism and
greater cooperation between the information services of the central and
regional governments [of the four Basque provinces in Spain];

 -  A "special legislation for Basque prisoners convicted of terrorism;" the
social re-integration of the political prisoners "to obtain the cooperation of
the terrorists and re-integrate them into the main current of political life";

 - An anti-terrorism plan that would get the support of the population:
weapons and without emphasizing its military aspects;

-  The teaching of Basque culture, necessary to fight violence according to
the Commission, must be taught within the European context;

-  More implication of the regional institutions in the conflict;

Negotiation was not excluded from the experts report but it was not specified
as a means to achieve a political solution to the conflict.

The Anti-terrorism Pacts

The Madrid Pact against terrorism was agreed on November 1987 by national and
regional political parties including the Basque Nationalist Party.

The fifth article of the Madrid Pact states the importance of an agreement
among the Basque political parties "for the achievement of peace in Euskadi
and the rest of the state. Therefore, we value the initiative of the
lehendakari [the president of Bascongadas and leader of the PNV, Jose Antonio
Ardanza] of the Basque government."

The PNV plan against ETA was presented by Ardanza and approved by the
Bascongadas regional parliament in 1985.

The anti-terrorism Pact for the Normalization and Pacification of Euskadi (aka
Pact of Ajuria Enea) was agreed by the political parties of Bascongadas---with
the exception of Herri Batasuna---in January 1988, two months after the Anti-
terrorist Pact of Madrid was established.

In Navarre, one of the four Basque provinces in Spain, the Navarrese Anti-
terrorism Pact was agreed in October 1988 by the political parties, with the
exception of Herri Batasuna.

The Pact of Ajuria Enea, and the Navarrese Anti-Terrorism Pact, adopted the
recommendations made by the Commission of Experts supporting Spain's policy in
Basque provinces and the repression and delegitimation of the Basque
dissidence.

ends.-