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Rwandan priest silent on massacre allegations
African Rights has urged an investigation |
A Rwandan priest now working in Italy has refused to comment on allegations that he caused 2,000 deaths when a church was bulldozed during the 1994 Rwandan genocide.
The human rights organisation African Rights this week called on the Italian Government to investigate the accusations against the Roman Catholic priest, Father Athanase Seromba.
African Rights says it has testimony from 17 eyewitnesses naming Father Seromba as the priest who ordered the bulldozing of his church in Nyange parish.
More than 2,000 people, most of them Tutsi, had sought shelter in the church during the genocide.
When a BBC correspondent tracked Father Seromba down at a house in Florence he remained silent as the correspondent put the accusations to him. He eventually shut the door without a word.
When the allegations first emerged at the weekend, Father Seromba said he had left Rwanda before the genocide.
Supportive
Father Giovanni Conti, parish priest where Father Seromba is working, was shocked by the allegations and remains supportive of the Rwandan priest.
"We had absolutely no reason to think any thing bad about him. He was such a calm and serene person."
Bernardo Cevallera, Director of Fides, the international Catholic news agency, told the BBC there was not much he could say in response to the allegations.
"We should try to listen to the voice of this priest who is well known by other Rwandan and Italian priests, and they say he is a very good priest, very committed to pastoral work," he said.
Witnesses
Witnesses whose testimonies have been obtained by African Rights include former employees of Father Seromba, a former policeman and other local officials, plus seven people who survived the massacre in the priest's Nyange parish.
African Rights accuses Father Seromba of:
- organising and assisting the killings in Nyange
- shooting refugees
- arranging and paying for the church to be bulldozed
- handing survivors over to the killers to be murdered
- manning a roadblock so that Tutsis could be singled out and killed
But Bernardo Cevallera told the BBC: "The church does not have the duty of investigating - it has the duty of building up a new Rwandan society."
African Rights director Rakiya Omaar said the group had raised the case in a 10-page letter to the Pope last year, but said it had been "summarily dismissed".
Ealier this year the Catholic church made known its opposition to the trial in Rwanda of Bishop Bishop Augustin Misago, who is also accused of involvement in the genocide.
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14 Sep 99 | Africa |
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Rwandan bishop in the dock |
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23 Nov 99 | Africa |
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Prosecutor wants review of Rwandan's release |
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18 Mar 99 | Africa |
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Eyewitness: Rwanda's survivors |
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