Spain 'should learn from our mistakes'
SPAIN – in the aftermath of the ceasefire announcement by Basque separatist group ETA at the weekend – should learn from mistakes made in Northern Ireland, according to the DUP's Gregory Campbell.
The East Londonderry MP said: "ETA, much like the Provisional IRA in 1994, has called its latest ceasefire because its terrorist campaign has failed to advance its aims.
"Successive Spanish and French governments have rightly adopted a tough stance with that murderous organisation: ETA has been shown that terrorism cannot work."
Mr Campbell said that, by 1994, the Provisional IRA campaign in Northern Ireland was "faltering due to effective army and police actions" and added: "The IRA was riddled with informants and they were delighted when offered a way out of terror at a very cheap price."
The Spanish government has rejected ETA's ceasefire because it stops short of an announcement to give up violence permanently.
Interior minister Alfredo Perez Rubalcab said ETA "could not be trusted" and has ruled out negotiations on their goal of an independent homeland.
Mr Campbell said "weak leadership" resulted in a 13-year wait from the first IRA ceasefire until "democratic standards and support for the rule of law" were accepted by Sinn Fein.
"I would urge the Spanish and French authorities to learn from the mistakes that were made in Northern Ireland," he said.
"Failure to enforce requirements on issues like decommissioning, support for the rule of law and the state judicial system actually prolonged the search for stability and peace far longer than was necessary."
Sunday's announcement by ETA came in a video sent to the BBC and a statement published by the newspaper Gara – a pro-independence daily that often serves as a mouthpiece for ETA.
The video showed three masked militants sitting at a table with a sign bearing the ETA insignia behind them – a snake curled around an axe.
"ETA makes it known that as of some months ago it took the decision to no longer employ offensive armed actions," the statement said.
It added: "If the government of Spain has the will, ETA, today as in the past, is willing to agree to the democratic minimums necessary to undertake the democratic process."
DUP MLA Jimmy Spratt says he "wouldn't be surprised" if it emerged that the terrorists were already engaged in talks with the Spanish government behind the scenes.
"The situation there seems similar to the situation in Northern Ireland a few years ago. Didn't our own government do the same thing in the first instance before it emerged some time later what had been going on?"
ETA has killed more than 825 people since the late 1960s.
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Monday 28 May 2012
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