ETA calls for peace and self-rule

ETA attacks are routinely followed by anti-violence marches

MADRID, Spain -- The armed Basque separatist group ETA has called for peace but blamed Spain and France for the continuing conflict.

In its first statement since the September 11 attacks on the U.S. ETA said it would doing everything possible to ensure its violent campaign doe not last "another 20 years."

But ETA stuck to its central demand of an independent Basque homeland in the region which straddles northern Spain and southern France.

The statement, published in two Basque-language newspapers, said: "Peace is possible, of course it is, and ETA's hand will always be open.

"The conflict that Spain and France have with the Basque homeland can be resolved without missiles, in a democratic way, by simply allowing the people to decide."

IN-DEPTH Basque conflict: Violence in Spain   • Overview   • Living in fear   • Standing vigil   • ETA background   • Q&A on ETA   • ETA timeline   • Map: Violence   • Video archive   • Recent stories

ETA's statement was issued less than a week after another armed group -- the IRA in Northern Ireland - decommissioned some of its weapons as part of a long-running, often arduous, peace process.

The IRA's move prompted calls from Spanish and mainstream Basque nationalist political parties for ETA to end its campaign, in which about 800 people have been killed since 1968.

ETA's statement criticised Spain and France for rushing to support the U.S.-led military strikes on Afghanistan.

And it blasted Spanish Prime Minister Jose Maria Aznar for saying ETA should not be distinguished from the perpetrators of the September 11 attacks.

But the leader of Spain's ruling Popular Party in the Basque region, Carlos Iturgaiz, said ETA's statement was "repugnant."

"When it says its hand is held out, we know that its hand is loaded to continue killing," he told state radio. "The only response to these criminals is ... to put them behind bars in jail to pay for their crimes."

ETA said it had been responsible for 11 attacks since late July, including several bombs aimed at Spain's huge tourism industry during the peak summer season.

About half of Basque voters support parties that favour moves towards self-determination or outright independence for a Basque state.

But a political party close to ETA saw its share of the vote slump to just over 10 percent in regional elections in May in what was widely seen as a rejection of the group's killings.

Almost all ETA killings are followed by street demonstrations opposed to the violent campaign.

Anti-violence marches also take place in Basque cities where some marchers believe in the cause but not the means.

Spain's government has so far refused to offer any concessions to the separatists, saying that to do so would threaten the future of Spain and that it would be giving in to the bullet and bomb.