The armed Basque separatist group ETA on Sunday offered to meet with international mediators to discuss ways to end decades of violence, according to a statement issued two weeks after the group declared a unilateral cease-fire.
The Spanish government and most major political parties received ETA’s September 5 cease-fire announcement to halt “armed offensive actions” with skepticism, saying that the group has used previous cease-fires to regroup its forces for more shootings and bombings.
The Basque Socialist Party in northern Spain and the country’s main opposition conservative party said the latest ETA statement also was not enough because ETA still has not announced a definitive end to its violence and a commitment to lay down its arms forever — the demand of Spain’s Socialist government.
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