Politics

The armed Basque group ETA announced on Monday that it holds to the decision of the definitive cessation of its armed activity announced last October 20th and that it is redoubling "efforts to open channels for dialogue", in a statement sent to the website Naiz.info.

The armed Basque group also accuses the French and Spanish Governments of having an agenda against peace as well as rejecting dialogue and trying to bring the peace process to a halt.

ETA also attacks the prisons' policy of the Spanish Government, of whom it says "seeks to legitimize the extraordinary situation of the Basque prisons and just wants to block all progress in the Basque peace process"

ETA announced last October 20th it was ending its 43-year armed campaign for independence and called on Spain and France to open talks.

The armed Basque group ETA has urged the French Government and Spanish Governments repeatedly to open "direct talks" "to bring a definitive end to the consequences of the conflict",

Spain's Interior Minister Jorge Fernández Díaz has rejected ETA's talks request, saying that Spain would never negotiate with the armed group and demanded that the band hands over weapons.