Corsican nationalists haveannounced a surprise truce, saying they wanted tostrengthen efforts to end 30 years of violence on theFrench-run Mediterranean island.
A spokesman for the clandestine FLNC-Union of Fighters announced the unilateral ceasefire at an isolated villa in the south of the island, the birthplace of French Emperor Napoleon Bonaparte.
"We realise that it is our duty to create the definitive conditions of a strategic national union which will carry the hopes and the seeds of peace," the spokesman said, surrounded by around 20 armed masked men.
The announcement follows Monday's call by other nationalists on the island for an end to violence ahead of regional elections due in March.
Ten nationalist groups have for months been holding meetings aimed at creating a joint list for the polls, but a recent upswing in attacks proved a major stumbling block.
The surge in violence followed the arrest of the chief suspect in the 1998 killing of the top French official in Corsica, and the islanders' rejection of limited autonomy from Paris in a referendum in July. Police stations, prisons, holiday homes owned by residents of mainland France and other symbols of French rule were targeted in the fresh wave of attacks.
Mr Nicolas Sarkozy, the high-profile Interior Minister who pushed the autonomy plan through parliament, late last month announced a crackdown on "mafia gangs" which control the island. He said dirty money was corrupting everything in Corsica and creating a climate of fear, adding that nationalism was just a pretext for engaging in crime.
Separatists have carried out low-key attacks on the picturesque island since the 1970s, mostly targeting official buildings at night. But the killing of Corsica's prefect in an Ajaccio street five years ago marked an escalation in the campaign and resulted in a wave of arrests of nationalists that fuelled resentment against Paris.