Basque separatist group ETA on Thursday announced 'definitive end' to its armed struggle for the independence of the Basque region in the north of Spain and the southwest of France.

The declaration, sent to the BBC and also published by Basque newspaper GARA at 19:00 local time, ends over 40 years of conflict which have claimed over 800 lives.

ETA's communique comes just four days after a peace conference, held in the city of San Sebastian and attended by people such as former UN Secretary General Kofi Annan and Sinn Fein leader Gerry Adams, called for the group to definitively end all violence.

The declaration follows ETA's announcement of a ceasefire in January of this year, while the last assassination by the group in Spain occurred on June 30, 2009, when a car bomb in Mallorca killed two civil guards.

The group has been under severe pressure from both Spanish and French security forces in recent years and currently has over 700 members in jail, while 50 suspected ETA members have been detained since the announcement of January's ceasefire.

Meanwhile members of the independence-seeking left wing Izquierda Abertzale in the Basque region have also been pressuring ETA to definitively end its armed struggle.

The Izquierda Abertzale has increasingly come to see the political route as a more effective route to independence, an opinion backed up by the fact that the electoral coalition 'Bildu' was the second most voted for party in the Basque region in the local and regional elections held this May.

ETA's declaration appears to recognize the change in Basque society, as well as the benefits of this week's conference.

"ETA considers that the international conference held recently in Euskal Herria (Basque country) is an initiative of great political transcendence. The agreed resolution brings together the ingredients for an integrated solution to the conflict and has the support of large sectors of Basque society and of the international community," reads the communique, which continues "In Euskal Herria, a new political age is opening. We face a historic opportunity to obtain a just and democratic solution to the age-old political conflict."

"Dialogue and agreement must characterise the new age. The recognition of Euskal Herria and respect for popular will must prevail over any imposition. This is the will of the majority of Basque citizens."

ETA called on the Spanish and French governments "to open a process of direct dialogue which has as its aim the resolution of the consequences of the conflict and thus the conclusion of the armed conflict."

Future debates will almost certainly consider major questions such as allowing Basque prisoners to serve their sentences in prisons either in or close to the Basque region, the groups recognition of its victims and whether or not ETA is prepared to hand over its weapons.

VietNamNet/Xinhuanet