KISANGANI, DRCongo (AFP) - President Joseph Kabila of the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) began a historic visit to the unstable and war-weary east of his country with a warning that the nation would not accept any further "aggression".
"Even if we say there is peace today, there are still countries that think they can return to the Congo," Kabila told a crowd of thousands of people shortly after arriving in Kisangani to a rapturous welcome.
Forces from half a dozen countries in the region were active in DRC during five years of war between 1998 and 2003 which led directly or indirectly to an estimated three million deaths.
The country, which is the biggest in central Africa and has enormous potential mineral wealth, had already been devastated by 40 years of corruption and disastrously bad government.
"I will accept no further aggression" in DRC, Kabila said in Kisangani, the country's third biggest town and the scene of some of the war's most violent clashes between DRC and Rwandan troops.
He named no states, but neighbouring Rwanda and Uganda supported DRC rebels in the east and effectively occupied the area during much of the 1998-2003 war, which formally ended in April with a fragile peace pact.
Nowhere is that fragility greater than along DRC's eastern borders with Rwanda, Burundi and Uganda, subject to recurrent outbreaks of violence.
Kabila arrived in the region Saturday for a tour of the east of DRC announced last week and regarded as highly symbolic.
It was the first time he had been to the east since taking office in January 2001 and the visit is not without risk given the volatility of the region.
Hundreds of heavily-armed members of the presidential guard were deployed in Kisangani, while the city's local police had disarmed and moved to barracks outside the city "for security reasons", local officials said.
Officials in Kinshasa fear the police force in Kisangani is still controlled by members of the Rwandan-backed rebel group that retains effective control of the city and surrounding region.
The United Nations Mission in DRC reported that tens of thousands of local people turned out to welcome him, chanting "We are freed, we are freed."
The visit is "a remarkable sign that peace is here", according to Kisangani resident Biamasu Mamufuakage, a 46-year-old teacher wearing a badge with Kabila's picture.
The aim of the visit is to enable Kabila to "re-establish his authority" over the entire country eight months before elections are due, said a diplomat who did not want to be named.
"Today I have come with a message of peace and reconciliation," Kabila said. "The process of pacification is underway and will continue until the whole country is secure and pacified," he said.
He also confirmed that elections scheduled for 2005, the first free and democratic polls in the country for 40 years, "will take place" wihout giving a precise date. But no preparations for them have been made.
Kabila acknowledged that "the social and economic situation" in Kisangani and the country at large was "not good".
"Public service workers' salaries have not been paid," he admitted, to loud applause. He also acknowledged problems with water supplies, power and communications, as Kisingani is only accessible by air.
"My coming here is a start to find solutions to these problems," he told an audience which included some 10 ambassadors from countries that help pay for development projects in Kisangani.
Kabila is due to stay for "some days" in Kisangani, according to his spokesman Kudura Kasongo, who declined to give details of the itinerary on security grounds.
It was not clear whether he would carry on to Kindu. capital of Maniema province, as planned. "We'll see how things go in Kisangani", Kasongo said.