Spanish gov't says ETA needs to apologize to victims

On the disarmament of the Basque separatist group ETA, the Spanish government has repeated that the group has to apologize to its victims and announce its definitive disappearance.

ETA on Saturday handed a list of eight arms caches to French police in the town of Bayonne in the southwest of France.

The Spanish government has described the act as "theater", noting that ETA should help resolve unsolved attacks committed by the group. It said the group will not obtain "any political benefit or concession" as a result of the process.

Other political parties, however, such as Basque nationalist group EH-Bildu, or Unidos Podmeos, which were both present in Bayonne, saw the disarmament as a positive step in the direction of ETA's eventual disappearance.

Some analysts also saw Saturday's events as a positive step towards ETA's eventual dissolution.

Nevertheless, some, mainly on the right of the political spectrum, have remained skeptical about the statement that the 120 firearms and three and a half tons of explosives handed over really constitute all of ETA's arsenal.

Some experts viewed the act as more symbolic than anything, given that ETA's capacity to commit attacks has been weakened severely in recent years thanks to the arrest of key members, while the weapons were increasingly old and obsolete.

Meanwhile, French Interior Minister Matthias Fekl considered the disarmament to be "unilateral" on behalf of ETA and "a great step" forward in the peace process. Endit