Nationalists `lying' on ETA deal

Madrid - The Spanish government accused mainstream Basque nationalists yesterday of lying about ties with the armed separatist…

Madrid - The Spanish government accused mainstream Basque nationalists yesterday of lying about ties with the armed separatist group ETA after a newspaper published what it claimed were terms of a secret deal for a now-lapsed truce. The Basque newspaper Gara, which supports ETA's aim of a Basque state, printed documents which, it said, showed the Basque Nationalist Party had agreed in 1998 to harden its stance in return for the ceasefire.

Spain's conservative government has repeatedly accused the Basque Nationalist Party, which governs the Basque region, of reaching a deal with ETA to secure a ceasefire.

The Spanish Interior Minister, Mr Jaime Mayor Oreja, criticised the nationalist parties yesterday. "They have said nothing but lies in order to substantiate the first big lie which was when they said that there was no political agreement whatsoever in 1998 when ETA declared its indefinite ceasefire," Mr Mayor Oreja told state radio.