MADRID, Sept. 26 (UPI) -- Spain says it is rejecting the latest statement by the Basque separatist group ETA that it is ready for a permanent cease-fire.
Spanish officials say they are still insisting the outlawed group renounce all violence, the BBC reported Sunday.
ETA -- the Basque acronym for Basque Homeland and Freedom -- was prepared to make its current cease-fire, which it declared unilaterally Sept. 5, permanent, two of the group's members said.
The masked ETA members said the group was ready to "go one step further" and enter a dialogue on ending the conflict if the right "conditions" were created, the BBC said.
Spanish Interior Minister Alfredo Perez Rubalcaba said ETA's statements and interviews were "a waste of time" and the government was waiting for the ETA to "denounce violence permanently."
ETA's campaign for Basque independence from Spain has cost more than 800 lives since 1968, the BBC said.
