Spain: Basque militants Euskadi Ta Askatasuna (ETA) put some arms beyond use
Armed Basque separatist group ETA has put some of its arsenal of guns and explosives beyond use, an international group monitoring a ceasefire said yesterday, but it was unclear how much of the weapons stockpile had been scrapped.
The move by the Basque group is similar to the decommissioning process in Northern Ireland, where nationalist and pro-British paramilitaries disposed of their weapons in front of independent witnesses as part of a peace deal.
“We have verified that ETA has put out of operative use a certain amount of arms and explosives,” the head of the international commission, Ram Manikkalingam, told a news conference in the Basque region’s main city of Bilbao.