🚀 go-pugleaf

FRANCE BACKS SPAIN'S DEMANDS FOR PERMANENT ETA TRUCE
Promise to reflect on the future of Euskal Herria in France


Euskal Herria Journal, October 5, 1998

The French government says it backs Spain's demands for a permanent ETA truce
before a peace process could be set in motion, the Spanish daily El Pais
reported on Monday. The French executive says the situation should be resolved
directly by
the Spanish government, the daily reported citing sources close to Prime
Minister Lionel Jospin.

The Basque armed organization Euskadi Ta Askatasuna (ETA, Basque Homeland and
Freedom) announced a total, indefinite truce that began on September 18.

The ETA communique states that the armed organization is waiting for a clear
willingness and compromise to solve the Basque conflict to decide whether to
make the truce a permanent one, which would entail a laying down of arms.

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.

"The French government cannot discuss the future of the Spanish Basque Country
and eventually, of its relations with the French-Basque provinces, anymore
than with the Spanish," the newspaper quoted.

"For the first time, it is about an indefinite truce, which is interesting,
even if it is not the first announcement of a truce or it takes place within
the context of the regional elections. Everything that brings calm to the
situation in the Spanish
Basque Country, with its incidents and attacks, cannot do more than make us
happy," said the government sources cited by the daily.

The ETA communique announcing the truce and published in the Basque daily
Euskadi Informacion on September 16, makes Paris and Madrid equal participants
in the Basque conflict.

Paris seems to have finally noticed the nationalist desire for the re-
unification of the seven Basque provinces divided into France and Spain -- the
largest nationalist movement in the three Basque provinces in France,
Abertzaleen Batasuna, is
one of the signatories of the Lizarra Document, a nationalist agreement that
calls for multilateral talks between all parties in the conflict. The document
was issued on September 12.

According to the sources cited by El Pais, "if the truce is confirmed, and
negotiations in Spain lead to an agreement by the parties involved in that
country... which is to be doubted .... the French authorities would be guided
to reflect about the future of the French Basque Country."

That is, Paris will be paying attention to the debate generated by the ETA
truce and the next move taken by the armed organization, before and after the
regional elections in Bascongadas on October 25.

The government has not made any comments about the constant demands by
grassroots groups in the Basque provinces to have the political prisoners
moved to jails in Euskal Herria. There are 71 Basque political prisoners held
in French jails outside Euskal Herria.

In 1997, the Basque association Anai-Artea (founded in 1969) published a
report about the precarious situation of the political prisoners, and a
petition signed by more than 1,000 people supporting repatriation. Among the
signatories are 45 mayors, 400
city and town councillors, as well as members of the Green Party, the
Socialist Party, the Comunist League, and the Basque nationalist parties. The
president of the Basque language academny Euskaltzaindia, Jean Haritschelar;
writer and member of
Euskaltzaindia, Jean Louis Davant, and lawyer and human rights activist Denis
Langlois endorsed the petition. The document, sent to the French authorities,
includes a resolution adopted by the European parliament condemning the
dispersion of prisoners, and reports from the International Prisons Watch
(OIP), and the European Committee for the Prevention of Torture (CPT),
denouncing the situation of the Basque political prisoners.

French anti-terrorism authorities say the inactivity of the Basque armed
organization Iparretarrak (IK, Those of the North) shows that the group has
been weakened by police action and that it's not a decision linked to the ETA
truce.

An IK communique issued in May denounced the lack of progress in the political
debate about the future of the northern Basque provinces in France. IK said
that not even the return of the French socialists (PSF) to office has been
able to unblock
the current political situation that denies a department to the north of
Euskal Herria.

"Those who claim that violence prevents Euskal Herria north from having a
political future, cannot hold that argument anymore to justify the deadlock, "
said IK.

IK regrets that the "proposals and projects that came out of the debates fall
short of representing the minimums of what Euskal Herria needs. Long debates
and media propaganda cannot continue to hide the political impasse we are
suffering."

In March 1997, France and Spain increased collaboration against the Basque
opposition.

Former Minister of Interior Jean-Louis Debri vowed it would aggressively
pursue any leaders of ETA on French territory.

The current Socialist-led government maintains collaboration with Spain
against the Basque opposition.

Since 1990s, French police has arrested hundreds of people accused of being
members or collaborators of ETA and IK -- including people in Brittany accused
of sheltering Basque refugees.

A Paris court last Thursday sentenced two former Basque activists, Maria
Nagore Mugika Alvarez and Juan Carlos Iglesias (tried in absence) each to six
years in prison for "association with criminals" and "planning terrorist
acts."

According to El Pais, only an amnesty as a result of progress in a peace
process in Spain would allow France to review its collaborationist policy with
the Spanish government.

======================================================

Euskal Herria Journal is published by the Basque Congress for Peace
(CPEH), a New York-based group working to raise public awareness in
support of Basque self-determination

Basque Congress for Peace, POB 20252 Dag Hammarskjold PC United Nations
Plaza, New York, NY 10017.

Euskal Herria Journal mirror sites:

http://osis.ucsd.edu/~ehj
http://www.contrast.org/mirrors/index.ehj/

ends.---