Basque group ETA announces end to campaign of violence

Listed as a terrorist organization by Spain, the United States and the European Union, ETA is blamed for hundreds of deaths in its decades-long fight for an independent Basque state that it wants carved out of sections of northern Spain and southwestern France.

Thursday's announcement follows a recent push for the group to abandon violence permanently. That effort was led by international figures who include Sinn Fein leader Gerry Adams of Northern Ireland and former U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan.

In a nationally televised address hours after the announcement was posted, Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero termed ETA's announcement as being of "transcendental importance" and a "victory for democracy."

"Ours will be a democracy without terrorism, but not without memory," Zapatero said, referring to 829 people killed by ETA and their families.

The prime minister praised Spanish police, Civil Guard personnel, the intelligence agency and judicial authorities "who have contributed to this end." Zapatero also singled out France -- which has traditionally been used as a rearguard base for ETA -- and its president, Nicolas Sarkozy, for their assistance.

The prime minister said that it would be up to Spain's next government -- which will be formed after parliamentary elections on November 20 -- to lead the peace process.

Zapatero, whose popular standing has soured amid Spain's deep economic crisis, is not running for a third term. Soon after he was first elected, in 2004, the police intensified their crackdown on the ETA as the group's popularity among some segments of Basque society began to wane.

In its own statement Thursday, ETA called of "enormous significance" a one-day meeting held Monday in which Adams, Annan and other leaders met in San Sebastian, a principal Basque city, and called for peace.

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