Visit our website: HTTP://WWW.STOPNATO.ORG.UK --------------------------------------------- [Interesting when the thief is in your own house, eh, Javier Solana? Please don't take it amiss if the international community, in the name of the rule of law and human rights of course, commences to bomb your country back to the Paleolithic Era. After all, it's only because the successive regimes of the socialist Gonzalez and the conservative Aznar have denied the Basque people any modicum of elementary human rights that NATO is reduced to the expedient of murdering thousands of innocent Spanish civliians, destroying your entire industrial base, plunging every bridge into the nearest river, crippling your power grids with graphite bombs, and leaving your national landscape littered with cluster bombs and low-grade uranium weapons. No hard feelings among fellow humanitarians, I'm sure.] Monday July 30 1:40 PM ET Spanish Premier Meets Basque Leader to Discuss ETA By William Schomberg MADRID (Reuters) - Prime Minister Jose Maria Aznar met the nationalist leader of Spain's troubled northern Basque region on Monday in an attempt to narrow their differences and focus instead on fighting the outlawed separatist group, ETA. But the chances of a breakthrough looked slim after the two leaders, in the run-up to the talks, stuck to their divergent views on how to end the killing by ETA. Aznar received Juan Jose Ibarretxe at his official residence in Madrid for their first meeting since Ibarretxe was re-elected ``lehendakari,´´ or Basque president in the Basque language, in regional elections in May. After a campaign when both sides blamed each other for ETA's bloodshed, the Basque Nationalist Party's (PNV) victory was a blow for the center-right Aznar. He had hoped to oust the nationalists who have run the Basque region for over 20 years. A Spanish general died on Saturday from injuries caused by an ETA bomb attack in late June, since when a further three people have been killed in separate attacks. An ETA member died last week when explosives she was handling blew up. Ibarretxe and Spanish government officials were expected to hold news conferences after the meeting. In newspaper interviews published on Sunday, the two leaders remained as far apart as ever on the key demand by Basque nationalists for the right to self-determination. AT LOGGERHEADS ``Ibarretxe should be clear in his mind that no part of Spain will be segregated,´´ Aznar told La Vanguardia, sticking to his unswerving line against any moves toward a referendum on Basque independence. Ibarretxe told the Basque newspapers El Correo and El Diario he would not hold a referendum ``without a previous agreement´´ with Madrid, an apparent refusal to bow to the demands of the Spanish government to drop the issue of self-determination. Aznar's Popular Party and the PNV used to be allies in the Spanish parliament. But their ties fell apart when the PNV signed up to a 1998 pact in favor of Basque sovereignty along with other nationalists, including groups close to ETA. Aznar accuses the Basque government of giving ETA credibility by challenging the limits of the region's autonomy. The nationalists argue Aznar wasted a chance for peace for refusing to discuss any issue other than surrender by ETA during the group's 14-month cease-fire that ended in December 1999. Since then the group has claimed 35 killings, most of them low-level politicians from parties opposed to Basque independence or members of Spain's security forces. The breakdown of relations between Madrid and the Basque government is believed to have hampered efforts by the Spanish and Basque regional police to combat ETA. ETA has been blamed for about 800 deaths since 1968 when it began its campaign for a Basque state in the Basque-speaking areas of northern Spain and southwestern France. Opinion polls have suggested no more than 30 percent of Basque voters want independence, but successive Spanish governments have refused to hold a referendum. A party close to ETA won just over 10 percent of the vote in May. __________________________________________________ Do You Yahoo!? Make international calls for as low as $.04/minute with Yahoo! Messenger http://phonecard.yahoo.com/ ------------------------------------------------- This Discussion List is the follow-up for the old stopnato @listbot.com that has been shut down ==^================================================================ EASY UNSUBSCRIBE click here: http://topica.com/u/?a84x2u.a9spWA Or send an email To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] This email was sent to: archive@jab.org T O P I C A -- Register now to manage your mail! http://www.topica.com/partner/tag02/register ==^================================================================
