Basque Batasuna calls on ETA to resume ceasefire

MADRID, Jan 8 (Reuters) Batasuna, a Basque political party banned for its links to ETA, called on the armed separatists to return to a nine-month ceasefire on Monday, nine days after a powerful ETA bomb killed two people at Madrid airport.

Batasuna is considered to be ETA's political wing, although there is no formal link, and Monday's comments added to evidence of what appeared to be a break in communication between the two.

''We want to call on ETA to keep to the commitments and objectives it set in its statement of March 22 (when it declared a 'permanent ceasefire'),'' Batasuna leader Arnaldo Otegi told reporters in the Basque city of San Sebastian.

ETA has not officially claimed responsibility for the bomb which wrecked a car park at Barajas International airport on December 30, but one of the warning calls was made in its name.

ETA has not made any statement breaking the ceasefire, as it has done with other truces, and in recent days other Batasuna officials have expressed surprise at the attack and have said the party ''deeply regrets'' that people died.

Media and analysts have speculated the car bomb may have been planted by a splinter group.

Batasuna has distanced itself from ETA's attacks but has stopped short of condemning its violence, a prerequisite for the party to be made legal and take part in elections again.

Deputy Prime Minister Maria Teresa Fernandez de la Vega declined to comment on Otegi's words. ''I'll simply say Batasuna still has a long way to go. All Spain hopes that it does what it has to do,'' she told a news conference.

Batasuna and ETA have long fought for independence for the Basque Country, which lies across the French-Spanish border.

After ETA's truce, Spain's Socialist government started a peace process which was expected to focus on issues like moving ETA prisoners closer to home and disarmament rather than any referendum on independence.

Since the attack, the government has said the process is dead, and Basque police have found more hauls of explosives.

Today, police said the arms stashes included detonators that could be used to make limpet bombs, which ETA has in the past used to blow up people's cars.

Polls published today showed the Spanish Socialist party and Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero, who staked considerable political capital on the Basque peace process, had lost ground among voters since the attack.

A survey in right-wing paper El Mundo showed Zapatero's approval rating drop to 51 per cent from 55 per cent last month while support for opposition leader Mariano Rajoy rose to 49 per cent from 48 percent.

REUTERS BDP KN2313