Bush, in ex-communist east, calls Germany key ally

STRALSUND, Germany, July 13 (Reuters) US President George W Bush called Germany a key ally in the promotion of peace and freedom today at the start of a visit to the former communist east designed to strengthen bilateral ties.

''I bring a message from the American people, we're honoured to call the German people friends and allies,'' Bush said, standing alongside Chancellor Angela Merkel in the town square of this resort town on the Baltic.

''We're going to work together to keep the peace, we want to work together to promote freedom,'' he added.

Keen to strengthen US-German relations, Merkel invited Bush to Stralsund, a medieval town of 60,000 people at the heart of her constituency in the former communist east.

Since Merkel replaced Gerhard Schroeder as chancellor last November, she has emerged as a key ally of Washington, acting as a mediator and messenger in frequent telephone conversations with the president on issues such as Iran.

German-US relations had suffered because of Schroeder's opposition to Bush's Iraq policy.

Bush arrived in a black limousine with his wife Laura and greeted Merkel and her husband Joachim Sauer before both leaders shook hands and chatted briefly with some of the 1,000 pre-selected locals who were allowed into the square.

Bush's father was president when the Berlin Wall fell and he has taken a special interest in Merkel's past. She grew up in the east and only became actively involved in politics around the time of German reunification in 1990.

She has become a potent symbol for the president's vision of spreading freedom and democracy.

''For decades the German people were separated by an ugly wall.

Here in the east millions of you lived in darkness and tyranny,'' Bush said.

''Today, your nation is whole again. The German people are at the centre of Europe, that is united and free and peaceful.'' ISRAEL-LEBANON VIOLENCE Bush then signed the town's ''golden book'', before sitting down with Merkel in leather chairs before a fireplace in the town hall for talks.

The leaders, who will attend a Group of Eight meeting in St.

Petersburg at the weekend, were expected to discuss renewed violence between Israel and Lebanon.

They will talk about how to respond to Iran after it failed to respond to incentives aimed at ending an impasse over its nuclear programme.

Merkel could also express concern about the US prison camp for terrorist suspects in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.

The old centre of Stralsund was cordoned off and 12,500 police were on duty, with officers on the roofs of buildings overlooking the town square.

In the square, locals shook Bush's hand and waved American flags, but out of sight of the president, a 5,000-strong protest was expected to take place.

Over half of Germans do not consider Bush's visit a good thing, according to an opinion poll by the Forsa institute for Stern magazine, while 41 percent said the visit was positive.

After a day in Stralsund, the two will dine on wild boar in the former communist showcase village of Trinwillershagen. Bush heads to St. Petersburg tomorrow.

REUTERS SHB PM1603