Eta declares ceasefire in video statement
Basque separatist group Eta has declared a ceasefire, according to a video statement obtained by the media on Sunday. The group says it decided several months ago "not to carry out armed actions" in a bid to promote a democratic process.
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The seven-minute video shows three masked individuals in front of the group's banner and Basque flags.
According to translated extracts released by the BBC, Eta insists that it acted "responsibly" by fighting its armed campaign for Basque independence.
But, the statement continues, "the time has come to build a democratic framework for the Basque country respecting the wishes of the majority of the Basque people".
Correspondent Micael Reparaz in Bilbao
"In its commitment to a democratic process to decide freely and democratically our future, through dialogue and negotiations, Eta is prepared today as yesterday to agree to the minimum democratic conditions necessary to put in motion a democratic process, if the Spanish government is willing," the group says.
The statement ends with a call to all Basque citizens "to continue in the struggle, each in their own field, with whatever degree of commitment they have".
But the video does not use the words ceasefire or truce so "we cannot know for sure if this de facto ceasefire is temporary or permanent", says RFI's correspondent in Bilbao, Micael Reparaz.
It comes after several months without violent action from Eta, he explains, and two days after Eta's political wing, Batasuna, urged the group to call a truce.
Eta has twice declared a ceasefire in the past, once in 1998 and again in 2006. Both were abandoned after little more than a year.
Earlier this year, France's government pledged to stop Eta operating in its territory after the group was blamed for the death of a French policeman.
Several of its senior members have been arrested in recent months, which is thought to have weakened the organisation considerably.
Eta is believed to have caused some 830 deaths in the 41 years it has been fighting for Basque independence.
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