Italian priest arrested for story on genocide

An Italian priest has been arrested in Bangui in connection with a story he allegedly wrote regarding mass executions of Yakomas, who are members of the ethnic group of the 28 May failed coup mastermind and former Central African Republic (CAR) president Andre Kolingba, Radio France Internationale (RFI) reported on Saturday. The Reverend Tolino Falagoista, director of Radio Notre Dame in Bangui and correspondent of the Rome-based Roman Catholic MISNA news agency, is accused of writing such a story in June, which also referred to the existence of three mass graves and warned that the CAR was heading towards extermination and genocide. When Falagoista was summoned by government authorities at the time, he allegedly denied writing or approving the story. A source told RFI that authorities asked Falagoista to send a handwritten denial to the government and MISNA on the story attributed to him, but that three months later, they had still not received it. He has, therefore, been summoned for another hearing. RFI reported that the management of MISNA remained cautious, only saying that the matter had been referred to the Bangui nuncio, the Italian consul, and the Vatican.