Church sorry for role in 'dirty war'

Some human rights groups say 30,000 'disappeared'

By Lourdes Heredia in Buenos Aires

Argentina's Catholic Church has made a historic apology for its mistakes during the last military regime from 1976 to 1983.

The church had been accused by human rights groups of doing nothing to stop the political repression in the country then.

More than 9,000 people are officially acknowledged to have disappeared in the period.

We have been indulgent with totalitarian postures, hurting democracy

Argentina's Catholic Church

Four years ago, church leaders in Argentina accepted that they could have done more.

But on Friday, for the first time, the Church said sorry for not doing enough to stop the repression.

The apology was made during an open air mass attended by thousands of people in Cordoba.

Search for victims

President Menem pardoned the military's rulers

This change of heart has been welcomed by human rights campaigners.

But they insist that the church needs to do more than apologise.

Human rights groups in Argentina have asked the church on several occasions to co-operate with them, so families of the victims can find out what happened to their relatives.

Martin Abreju is a director of Cels, an institute in Buenos Aires that investigates the whereabouts of the disappeared:

Some of the bodies of victims were never found

"We think it's a very important step forward, this recognition.

"However, we are demanding [that they] not only to make a different speech about what they have been doing but also to open their files."

"We do know that [priests] might have information about the fate of disappeared people and of kidnapped children," he said.

Human rights groups have put the number of those disappeared at two or three times the official number of 9,000.