Basque Separatist ETA Announce Unilateral Disarmament

On Friday, the leadership of the Basque Socialist Revolutionary Organization for National Liberation, ETA, announced their unilateral disarmament on Saturday after 40 years of armed struggle for independence.

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In a statement released on Friday, the group said that it would turn over its final weapons to Basque civil society groups on Saturday and that it wanted to "inform the international community...that it is now a disarmed organization."

"We took up arms for the Basque people and now we leave them in their hands so that Basques can continue taking steps to achieve peace and freedom for our country," the statement concluded.

The group had declared a cease-fire in 2011, but after Spanish authorities refused to negotiate a final settlement, the group retained their weapons.

The communique noted that the decision to disarm was made more difficult by the obstinacy of both the French and Spanish governments, who had, according to the BBC, shut down three previous negotiated settlements.

"This has been a hard and difficult task (because) of all the obstacles put up by Spanish and French states along the path, who still persist in a ‘winner take all’ framework," the statement read.

"Fortunately, civil society took a step forward, and taking political and technical ownership of the disarmament process, have made a decisive contribution to unlock a situation very close to entrenchment."

The ETA took up arms in the midst of the fascist dictatorship of Spanish General Franco, looking to gain independence for the linguistically and culturally distinct region which spans the border between France and Spain.

Initially targeting high-ranking military and police officials, some estimate that over 40 years ETA attacks killed 800 and wounded many more.

Long considered a terrorist group by both France and Spain, ETA members and sympathizers have been jailed and tortured by both governments.

El Pais reported that unnamed members of the Basque regional government — which has a high degree of autonomy from Spain and has played a key role in the disarmament process — hope that after disarmament the ETA will formally dissolve itself, arguing that this will make it easier to arrange a transfer of ETA prisoners to jails in the Basque region or to at least ease their often very harsh prison conditions.