Cease Fires

The Basque guerrilla group ETA declared a "total and indefinite" cease-fire that would end decades of separatist violence in Spain's Basque country. A statement announcing the indefinite truce was sent to the radical Basque daily Euskadi Informacion, the state-run news agency reported. The group set no conditions on the cease-fire, which is to begin Friday. Violence by the ETA has killed more than 800 people in the past 30 years.

Pro-Taliban militants announced a monthlong cease-fire in a Pakistani region bordering Afghanistan to give tribal elders a chance to broker a settlement after months of fierce fighting. Security forces have killed more than 300 militants, including 75 foreigners, in North Waziristan since they shifted from South Waziristan last year. Several Arab lieutenants of Al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden have been killed in the area, and U.S.

Nepal's communist rebels declared a three-month cease-fire to give the country a chance for peace. The announcement came a day before a reinstated parliament was scheduled to convene in Katmandu, the capital. It was expected to elect a new prime minister and initiate the process for electing a special assembly that would write a new constitution. Until early this week, Nepal had been rocked by weeks of bloody protests aimed at forcing King Gyanendra to relinquish control over the government.

Sudan's president said he accepted a U.N. package to help end escalating violence in Darfur and was ready to discuss a cease-fire. The president, Omar Hassan Ahmed Bashir, said in a letter to U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan that Sudan was ready to immediately implement two agreements endorsing a three-step U.N. plan to strengthen a 7,000-strong African Union force. Bashir also dropped his opposition to a hybrid AU-U.N. force that would be deployed as the final step in the peace plan.

The Ulster Freedom Fighters, Northern Ireland's largest pro-British paramilitary group, backed off its threat to end its self-imposed cease-fire, saying it was committed to protecting Protestant homes but would find a peaceful way to do so. The group had threatened to shoot anyone found attacking Protestants in Belfast. Despite the threat, the group hasn't been linked to any violence. The reversal came after appeals from its own political wing, the Ulster Democratic Party.

Colombia's second-largest rebel army proposed a bilateral cease-fire, amnesty for political prisoners and other measures that it said could allow for future peace talks with the government. Speaking in Congress under heavy guard, the spokesman of the National Liberation Army, or ELN, also appeared to accept Mexico's offer to monitor negotiations aimed at ending the 5,000-member group's participation in a four-decade-long war.

The armed Basque separatist group ETA unilaterally declared a cease-fire for the northeastern region of Catalonia, but the move was immediately criticized by Spain's premier and other politicians, who refuse to negotiate with the militant group. "We don't want any pardon from ETA," said Catalan regional President Pasqual Maragall.

The Philippines said it would stop military offensives against the Moro Islamic Liberation Front after clearing key obstacles for the resumption of peace talks to end a decades-old rebel insurgency. Arrest warrants against members of the MILF have also been suspended by the court, a presidential statement said. Safe-conduct passes will be issued to nine key leaders of the rebel group to allow them to travel to Malaysia, where the peace talks are to be held.

Pakistan offered to impose a cease-fire along the military Line of Control in the disputed region of Kashmir, and India promised to reply today. Pakistani Prime Minister Mir Zafarullah Khan Jamali said in a televised address that he hoped India, a rival that like Pakistan possesses nuclear arms, would respond positively. Each week several people are killed or wounded on both sides of the Line of Control by exchanges of artillery and mortar fire between soldiers of Pakistan and India.

Relieved villagers on both sides of the India-Pakistan border were making holiday visits to relatives after the guns fell silent between the two nuclear-armed neighbors for the first time in 14 years. A cease-fire between the two armies -- which traded machine-gun and mortar fire almost daily -- went into effect at midnight Tuesday. Indian and Pakistani army officials reported that there had been no firing along the 700-mile frontier.