WASHINGTON, 32 (NE) "I vehemently deplore the recent arrest of Archbishop Emmanuel Kataliko of Bukavu, in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DCR)," wrote Cardinal Bernard Law, Archbishop of Boston and Chairman of the International Policy Committee of the U.S. Catholic Conference, in a statement issued last week. In it, Cardinal Law affirmed that Archbishop Kataliko was unjustly accused of "inciting ethnic hatred, genocide, and threatening law and order in the region", and is currently maintained under house arrest. "There are no legitimate grounds for these accusations", the Archbishop stated.

    "This outrageous act on the part of the Rassemblent Congolais pour la Democratie (RCD) is a direct affront to the Archbishop's human rights and religious freedom". "It further demonstrates -the Cardinal emphasized- the gross violations of human rights by all parties involved in the war which has ravaged the Congo for more than three years. These violations must be denounced in the strongest possible way." Cardinal Law also recalled that Pope John Paul II called the arrest a "grave violation that painfully injures all Catholics."

    The Archbishop of Boston also sent a letter to Ambassador Edith Grace Ssempala at the Embassy of the Republic of Uganda in Washington, asking them to use "whatever influence it might have with the leaders of the Rassemblement Congolais pour la Democratie to gain the immediate release of Archbishop Kataliko and the safe return to his diocese."