Gerry Adams welcomes ETA announcement

Basque nationalist leader Arnaldo Otegi and Gerry Adams at the 2007 Sinn Féin Ard Fheis

COMMENTING on this evening’s statement by the Basque armed organisation ETA, Sinn Féin President Gerry Adams TD said:

I welcome the decisive and positive terms of ETA’s response to Monday’s ‘Declaration’ in Donostia-San Sebastian by the International Conference Group.

Following our deliberations, the International Group expressed the opinion that “it is possible to end, the last armed confrontation in Europe”.

We called upon ETA to make a public declaration of the definitive cessation of all armed action and to request talks with the governments of Spain and France to address exclusively the consequences of the conflict.

I believe that their statement today meets that requirement and I would urge the governments of Spain and France to welcome it and agree to talks exclusively to deal with the consequences of the conflict.

These next steps should be about promoting reconciliation, addressing the issue of victims and recognising that a serious effort has to be made to heal personal and social wounds.

There are other issues which will need to be addressed and which can act as confidence-building measures within the process.

For example, among these are the issue of prisoners and of demilitarising the environment and of respecting and acknowledging the democratic rights of all political parties and treating them as equals.

At a time when Batasuna is banned and leaders like Arnaldo Otegi – who is totally committed in my view to peace – are imprisoned, the use of confidence-building measures by the Spanish state is very important.

 BBC: Basque group Eta says armed campaign is over