Madrid Airport, Spain: Car bomb kills 2

Basque leader urges new peace talks
Web posted at: 7/30/2007 3:5:10
Source ::: AFP
madrid • The jailed leader of the armed Basque group ETA's political wing has called for fresh peace talks between the separatists and the Spanish government after a shaky truce ended last month, a newspaper reported yesterday.
Arnaldo Otegi, the leader of the banned Batasuna party, told the pro-independence Basque daily Gara in an interview that "there is no alternative to the (peace) process."
"The strategy of repression and confrontation is in vain," said Otegi, in his first interview after being handed a 15-month jail term on June 8 for "glorifying terrorism."
He underlined that only a "political pact" could "resolve this conflict."
The ETA has been blamed for more than 800 deaths in four decades of armed struggle to achieve independence for the Basque region straddling northern Spain and southwestern France.
It declared a "permanent" ceasefire in March 2006 but grew frustrated with the ensuing peace process with the Socialist government of Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero and set off a car bomb at Madrid's main airport in December that killed two men.
The group, whose name stands for Basque Homeland and Freedom, formally called off the ceasefire in June.
Otegi said the "need of the hour is to build upon what has already been achieved to attain conditions that would allow for a resolution" of the long-running unrest.
"For this, we need to keep all channels of communication open," he said but added that Madrid lacked the "will and the maturity" to forge a lasting pact to resolve the Basque question.
Otegi has faced half a dozen court cases, some of which are still going through the legal process.
In November 2005, Otegi was handed a one-year term for calling Spain's King Juan Carlos "chief torturer" of the Basques.