ETA hunger strike could derail peace-Basque party

BILBAO, Nov 9 (Reuters) Peace efforts between Spain's government and Basque guerrillas ETA could be derailed if a hunger-striking commander of the group dies in jail, a political party banned for its links to the rebels said today.

''Something could happen to Inaki de Juana and then what will we do? That's the question we have for (Spanish Prime Minister Jose Luis) Zapatero,'' Batasuna leader Arnaldo Otegi told a news conference in the Basque Country city of San Sebastian.

Inaki de Juana, who has already spent 19 years behind bars for 25 murders in the 1980s, went on hunger strike on Tuesday just before a court jailed him for an additional 12 years for threats contained in articles he wrote for a Basque newspaper.

Zapatero yesterday recognised that the new jail sentence for de Juana could cause problems in the peace process with ETA which the government announced in June, three months after the armed group declared a permanent ceasefire.

The prime minister said ETA had to show signs of willingness to lay down its weapons, after killing 800 people in four decades of armed struggle for independence of the Basque Country in northern Spain.

The government has still to confirm talks with ETA have begun, after months of rising tensions due to regular nationalist low-level street violence in the Basque Country.

The guerrillas earlier this month threatened to end the peace process unless there was quick progress in separate talks among political parties in the Basque Country on the region's future.

Polls show most Basques do not want to split from Spain.

REUTERS AB RAI2349