Pope Benedict XVI today sought to put behind him the row over condoms and AIDs which overshadowed the first leg of his African trip and basked in a warm welcome in Angola, a former Portuguese colony where ten million people - over half the population - are Catholic.

However the Pope's rejection of condoms, which he said while flying to Cameroon would only "aggravate" the fight against HIV/AIDs, is at odds with official policy in Angola. The Angolan government has launched a nationwide campaign to promote condoms even though only an estimated two percent of Angola's population of some 17 million have tested positive for HIV, a far lower figure than in neighbouring African countries.

Pope Benedict, who is making his first visit to Africa, urged Angolans to build "peace and understanding between peoples" in his arrival speech at Luanda airport, where he was met by President Jose Eduardo dos Santos. "Dear Angolans, your land is abundant and your nation is mighty. Make use of these advantages to build peace and understanding between peoples," the Pope said.

He added: "To this end, I ask you: do not yield to the law of the strongest! God has enabled human beings to fly, over and above their natural tendencies, on the wings of reason and faith." He also sent a "telegram of peace " to President Joseph Kabila of the Democratic Republic of Congo while flying over that war torn country.

Millions are expected to turn out over the next three days as the Pope meets politicians, Church leaders, women's groups and young people, with the visit culminating in an open-air mass on Sunday. The papal visit has been advertised on Angolan radio and television with the slogan "Papa, Amigo, Angola esta contigo" - "Pope, my friend, Angola is with you."

The Pope is expected to praise Angola's relative peace and stablity after three decades of civil war, from 1975 to 2002, which claimed half a million lives. Last September it held its first democratic elections for sixteen years, and thanks to oil and diamond resources has been able to fund a post war reconstruction programme, building schools, roads, hospitals and homes.

However the Pope referred in his arrival speech to the plight of the poor, blamed by critics of the govement not only on civil war but also on corruption and mismanagement. "Unfortunately, within the borders of Angola, there are still many poor people demanding that their rights be respected. The multitude of Angolans who live below the threshold of absolute poverty must not be forgotten," Benedict said, adding: "Do not disappoint their expectations."

President Dos Santos replied that his post civil war programme was "just the beginning, and we know that the road towards the well-being of the people and national reconstruction is long".

The Pope is expected to press Angola's leaders to lift restrictions on the media, especially Radio Ecclesia, the Church radio station which is widely admired for its independent stance but is only allowed to broadcast in the capital, not nationally.

Portuguese missionaries baptised Angola's first Catholic convert in the fifteenth century. Despite a Marxist revolution and the civil war, in which many missionaries were murdered, Catholicism remains a fundamental part of Angola's culture and identity. President dos Santos underwent a televised Catholic marriage in 1992.

Before leaving Cameroon, the first stop on his six-day African tour, Pope Benedict gave African bishops a draft document accusing multinationals of "invading" Africa in search of natural resources and damaging the environment by "defiling God's creation".