Dialogue must end Congo war, Pope tells Kabila

By Abigail Levene

Nov 24 1998 (Reuters)

Pope John Paul met President Laurent Kabila on Tuesday and voiced hope that the bloody war sweeping the Democratic Republic of the Congo would be ended swiftly by negotiation. "At the centre of the talks was the tragic conflict that is bloodying the country," the Vatican said in a statement after the Pope's 20-minute meeting with the Congolese leader. "The Holy See, in expressing deep concern about this, voiced the hope that through dialogue on both an international and national level, a peaceful solution would be reached rapidly. Such a solution would involve "safeguarding the principles of territorial integrity and national sovereignty and respecting the rights of every person and social group," the Vatican added. The Congolese government has been fighting Rwandan and Ugandan-backed rebels since August. Kabila, who ousted dictator Mobutu Sese Seko in the former Zaire in May 1997, refuses to recognise the rebels. Kabila's government last week boycotted peace talks in Botswana. South African President Nelson

Mandela has lent his weight to calls for direct talks between Kabila and the rebels, who control much of the east of the country. "(The Pope) understands the problem -- he wants everybody to respect other countries," Kabila, wrapped in a navy greatcoat against the November chill, told reporters after his Vatican audience. "We must respect the borders and the sovereignty of other countries. This is the great message we had from him." "Peace should prevail in our country but for peace to come, aggressors should leave," he said, speaking in English. "The most important thing is that aggressors should retreat from countries where they are not invited." Kabila's two-day trip to Italy was the opening leg of his first official visit to Europe. After a meeting with the Sant'Egidio Community -- a Roman Catholic peace group that helped broker an end to the conflict in Mozambique in 1992 -- Kabila met Italian President Oscar Luigi Scalfaro before flying on to Brussels for two days. From there he will travel to Paris.

The Congolese charge d'affaires in Brussels on Tuesday asked the Belgian government for guarantees that Kabila would not face legal proceedings during his visit to Belgium. At least three lawsuits calling for Kabila's arrest and trial have been filed since Friday, accusing him of human rights abuses during his overthrow of Mobutu and in the subsequent war. European Union Humanitarian Aid Commissioner Emma Bonino described Italy's reception of Kabila as "disconcerting", referring to him in a newspaper article as the "successor and emulator of the dictator Mobutu". Members of the Radical Party, of which Bonino is a member, staged a protest outside the presidential palace, trying in vain to block Kabila's entry for his meeting with Scalfaro. European Parliament deputy Ernesto Caccavale, a member of the conservative Forza Italia party, described the Italian authorities' decision to host Kabila as "an ugly spectacle". Vatican spokesman Joaquin Navarro Valls coolly defended the Pope's meeting with the Congo leader

, however. "It is not the first time in the 20 years of the pontificate that some concern has been expressed when the Pope has met certain people," Navarro Valls told Radio Vatican. "To this we have always replied that it should be remembered that the Pope listens to everyone and that, for obvious reasons, he is probably the only person who in certain cases can make very deep ethical reflections with whoever it may be," he said.