Image copyright EPA Image caption French police have begun opening the weapons caches listed by Eta

Basque militant group Eta has begun handing over its remaining weapons, ending the last insurgency in Western Europe. Eta also wants an amnesty for its members who are living under cover, which antiterrorism experts in France and Spain estimate at about 30 people. The International Verification Commission, in charge of verifying the process, said in a statement Saturday that the list of caches communicated to them by the Peace Artisans group “was immediately conveyed to the relevant French authorities, who will now secure and collect ETA’s arsenal.”

Inactive for more than five years, ETA had said it would hand over its arms, a historic step following a 43-year violent campaign that claimed 829 lives, mostly in Spain. French Interior Minister Matthias Fekl said a police operation was underway on Saturday to find and search the arms caches. PARIS — The Basque separatist group ETA on Saturday gave French authorities a list of eight caches where police found weapons, ammunition and explosives — a crucial move toward disarmament and a definitive end to its decades-long violent struggle to carve out a homeland on the French-Spanish border. The International Verification Commission said in a statement that the list of caches given to them by the Peace Artisans group “was immediately conveyed to the relevant French authorities, who will now secure and collect ETA’s arsenal.”

The caches are in southwestern France, a region historically used as a support base by ETA. “The French and Spanish governments must help to resolve all the consequences of this conflict.”

Eta is still considered a terrorist group by the European Union. A spokesman for the ruling party in the Basque Country’s regional government in Spain called the disarmament “historically relevant.”

“It’s important that the disarmament takes place because each and every [weapon] has its history,” Joseba Egibar said, as reported by Europa Press.
The militant Basque separatist group ETA begins handing over its remaining weapons during a ceremony in Bayonne, France, in which the group turned over to authorities an inventory of weapons and their locations.