Corsican militants call ceasefire

Some 20 masked fighters were present at the press conference

The main separatist rebel group on the island of Corsica has announced a suspension of its campaign of violence.

Journalists were taken to a secret location in the mountains where armed, masked militants announced the move.

A member of the Corsican National Liberation Front Combatants' Union, which is against French rule, said the suspension was without conditions.

The campaign of violence aimed at winning independence for Corsica has lasted three decades.

Elections

The militants' spokesman, flanked by 20 armed and masked fighters, told the press conference: "We realise that it is our duty to create the definitive conditions of a strategic national union which will carry the hopes and the seeds of peace."

The group said it was conscious of the need to create a union of all pro-independence groups in Corsica.

Other pro-independence factions have condemned the use of violence in pursuit of political goals.

The militant group's political wing had already called for a full ceasefire in the run-up to local elections which are scheduled to take place across France next March.

The French Interior Minister, Nicolas Sarkozy, has promised to crack down on the militants and try to choke off what he calls their mafia-style funding sources.

The campaign of violence aimed at winning independence for Corsica has lasted three decades.

But violent attacks intensified during the summer after the French government was defeated in a referendum offering limited autonomy to the island.