Spanish Prime Minister Rodriguez Zapatero has announced his government will start peace talks with the Basque rebel group ETA.

Zapatero made the formal announcement on Thursday in parliament, and while he wouldn't say where or when the negotiations would be held, he said the first progress update would come within three months.

"The process is going to be long, hard and difficult," Zapatero told a news conference at the parliament building.

"We will take on the task with determination and prudence, with unity and loyalty and — always, always — with respect for the memory of the victims."

Interior Minister Alfredo Perez Rubalcaba will brief parliament on negotiations in September, Zapatero said.

Zapatero is likely to face opposition from the opposition Popular Party, which has rejected holding talks with the separatist group that has waged an armed campaign for more than 30 years.

The rebel group, whose acronym stands for Euzkadi Ta Askatasuna ("Basque Homeland and Freedom" in the Basque language), wants an independent Marxist state in Spain's Basque region, which straddles the border with France.

Zapatero suggested peace talks would focus on disarmament  and ETA political prisoners, and not on a separate state.

Bomb attacks, assassinations

Since it was formed in 1959, ETA has claimed responsibility for bomb attacks and assassinations that have killed hundreds of people.

Politicians, police officials and judges have been the group's main targets, but civilians have also been killed in ETA bombings.

An earlier ceasefire, declared in September 1998, ended  a year later. The group blamed Spain's government for a lack of commitment to the talks.

Many Basques oppose ETA's tactics, saying they don't want independence based on bloodshed.

The European Union designated ETA as a terrorist organization in December 2001.