Obstacles for Peace in France

Seems like the actions by the Spanish and French governments have little or nothing to do with their public pledge to pursue a negotiation that ensures peace for the Basque Country.

This time it was the French who arrested three members of Segi, one of the organizations that Spain decided to name part of ETA's entorno.

Despite the fact that Madrid failed to jail other members of Segi a few months ago when the judge decided there was not enough proof that the youth organization was a terrorist group, Paris decides to act as a puppet for the inquisidors.

One thing that Paris and Madrid should know is that their repressive acts will not deter the Basque society from achieveing the peace and freedom that they dream of.

Here you have the note that appeared today at Reuters:

Police arrest three Frenchmen suspected of ETA links

Tue May 30, 2006 03:41 PM BST

BORDEAUX, France (Reuters) - Police on Tuesday arrested three Frenchmen suspected of belonging to a banned radical Basque group, a local police official said.

The three men, arrested separately in the southwest of France, were suspected of belonging to the banned Basque youth organisation Segi, which is accused of having links to armed separatist group ETA.

Askatasuna, an association for the defence of Basque political prisoners, criticised the move.

"It is a surprise because it is the first political-police action since the ETA cease-fire," the association's spokesman, Jean-Francois Lefort, told Reuters.

"If France and Spain continue to undertake repressive operations, it is the peace process which will eventually be called into question," he added.

ETA declared a permanent cease-fire in March after a violent 38-year campaign for Basque independence and peace talks are due to begin soon if the government deems it has definitively called an end to all forms of violence.

ETA has killed about 850 people during its fight for a state carved out of northern Spain and southwest France but has not made a fatal attack for three years.

It went into steep military decline in the late 1990s, when French and Spanish security forces began making regular arrests. Closer cooperation between French and Spanish police in recent years has led to the arrest in France of dozens of suspected ETA members.

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