Just when we thought Rwanda had reinvented itself into a genuine success story in Africa, and that Rwandan president Paul Kagame had become a star of international leadership, along comes the hero of Hotel Rwanda to tell us it isn’t necessarily so.
Paul Rusesabagina, portrayed in the 2004 film Hotel Rwanda by actor Don Cheadle, speaks in Springfield 7:30 a.m. Wednesday, May 12, at the Governor’s Prayer Breakfast at the Crowne Plaza Hotel. Rusesabagina is disillusioned with Kagame, who led rebel forces that ended the 1994 Rwanda genocide. Kagame has been president since 2000 and faces reelection in August. He is widely credited not only with restoring order in Rwanda, but also with revitalizing the nation’s economy.
But Rusesabagina has been spreading the message that Rwanda’s gains have come at the price of freedom, and that unless the international community somehow curbs Kagame’s increasingly repressive ways and brings out the full story of the genocide, Rwanda’s success could come undone. In a telephone interview with Illinois Times from his home in Brussels, Belgium, Rusesabagina said he will ask his Springfield audience to partner with him in his effort to bring out the truth about the genocide. “So far, no one talks about the truth in Rwanda,” he says. “They talk about unity and reconciliation. But people should never unite without the truth.”
Because of the film, many know the story of how Rusesabagina, serving as manager of the Hotel des Mille Collines (thousand hills) in Kigali, risked his life to shelter Hutus and Tutsis who came there seeking refuge from the genocide that killed more than 800,000 people in a period of 100 days.
“What you may not know,” he says in a video on his foundation’s website, “is that the ethnic conflict which led to this genocide has still not been resolved. The ethnic conflict has spread to the Democratic Republic of Congo, where more than 5 million people have died. The exploitation of the Congo’s ‘conflict minerals’ by Rwanda is fueling this horrible war. Poverty, inequality, discrimination and political repression are on the rise in Rwanda. We have a moral responsibility to change this.”
Just last week the New York Times took note of Rwanda’s increasingly repressive regime in a front page article on “rehabilitation camps,” where young adults are sent for petty crimes without trial. “While the nation continues to be praised as a darling of the foreign aid world and something of a central African utopia,” the newspaper said, “it is increasingly intolerant of political dissent, or sometimes even dialogue, and bubbling with bottled-up tensions.”
Some of the tension results from anticipation of the August elections. So far Kagame has not allowed leaders of opposition parties to register to appear on the ballot to oppose him. Some of the detractors of Kagame, a Tutsi, contend that thousands of the victims of the 1994 genocide were actually Hutus, though the general conception is that Tutsis were the victims. A “genocide ideology law” passed in 2008 makes it illegal to speak of the genocide in certain ways.
In the interview, Rusesabagina said Kagame’s popularity on the world stage is fading because of his increasing hard line against opponents. He said three of Rwanda’s high-ranking generals have been arrested and jailed, while two more have been sent into exile. He said the Human Rights Watch representative was kicked out of Rwanda on April 24. Last month the government shut down two independent newspapers because of opposition to Kagame, he said.
Rusesabagina wants an international “truth and reconciliation commission” set up to investigate what really happened during the genocide and what has happened since, including Rwandan involvement in the ongoing war in neighboring Democratic Republic of Congo. He contends that, although Rwanda has no mineral wealth of its own, “conflict minerals” taken from Congo are now its top export.
I asked Rusesabagina if he would consider returning to Rwanda to run for president. “As a humanitarian, I have to remain neutral,” he said. I noted that he didn’t sound neutral to me. He answered, “I cannot remain silent.”
Fletcher Farrar stayed at the Hotel des Mille Collines when he visited Rwanda in 2008. For more information on Rusesabagina’s current activities, go to hrrfoundation.org.
The Governor’s Prayer Breakfast, featuring Paul Rusesabagina, is 7:30 a.m. May 12 at the Crowne Plaza Hotel in Springfield. For tickets contact Paula Luebbert or Sharon Caldwell (Sharon.Caldwell@llcc.edu) at Lincoln Land Community College Capital City Training Center, 130 W. Mason, Springfield. 217-782-7436. Those interested in going are advised to call today as ticket sales will be closed this week and will not be available at the door.
Dear Fletcher,
Could someone let the Governor know that many people are shunning Rusesabagina away because of his controversial involvement with terrorist groups that have killed people in Rwanda and Congo (FDLR). The Governor should not be duped by his(Rusesabagina’s) picture with President Bush. He needs another picture with the Governor that’s how he makes his living. Otherwise he is just an untrustworthy Hotel manager and a cab driver. Otherwise I cannot agree more with the first comment
Jack
Dear Fletcher,
This Hollywood charlatan hero is a liar;
Survivors who were in the Hotel have rejected him! He charged them money; he threatened to throw some of them out of the windows if they did not pay. Some forcefully signed checks and there are evidences of cashing those checks after genocide by Rusesabagina himself. In fact he was telling them, that if you don’t pay “I will call the militias to come for you”, and everybody knew it was no joke since he had those powers because of his connection with genocidaires especially the Interahamwe militia’s VP Georges Rutaganda (Sentenced to life imprisonment by the International Crimes Tribunal for Rwanda-ICTR) . How can he be honored by the Governor! Talk to some survivors you will cancel that invitation. This is what happened with Young President’s Organization in 2007-They cancelled his invitation as their guest speaker after finding out about his hate/denial speeches. In 2008 The Catholic University of Louvin in Belgium cancelled his event after realizing that he was going to co-chair the meeting with Pierre Pean who is a known holocaust and genocide denier. Stop genocide denial and revisionist propaganda.
Sam
My lord! Paul Rusesabagina a Hero?? Defending perpetrators of geneocide is what makes him a hero? The man has been defending almost all high level genocide criminals charged by ICTR and those facing charges in the UK. In 2008 Judge Anthony Evans of British High court dismissed him (Rusesabagina) as a witness in Bajinya’s case and his co-accused after finding out that he was party to their wrong doings.
He also defended General Bizimungu (Former commander of genocidal forces) at ICTR but the court passed life sentenced to him. Good for the survivors and embarrassment for the “Hero”. And this raises a lot of credibility questions on this man; how could it be? Today you claim to have saved people from the killers, and tomorrow you sign affidavits and take oath to defend the very same killers claiming that they are innocent! I do not understand why these questions are not always put to him when he has such an opportunity to speak to any knowledgeable audience. What a mendacious position!
In January 2007 he met the representatives of FDLR in Cape Town and promised to support them (Proof of names, location of the meeting and pictures are available). FDLR is a terrorist organization comprising of genocidal criminals who committed the 1994 genocide against Tutsis in Rwanda. These bloodthirsty criminals are still roaming in DRC jungles and they have been killing, raping and pillaging congolese minerals for 16 years now. Please note that this group is on the US list of terrorist organization around the world. Their leaders have been arrested in Europe especially Germany. United Nations Security Council Resolution 1804 was passed to impose sanctions to the group and its leadership. And their affiliate by the name of Paul Rusesabagina will be addressing you!
Rusesabagina's foundation has been chanelling money to FDRL. His foundation is an instrument to mobilize money to support such kind of groups (Concrete evidence available)
Lastly,
The host of this event must therefore watch out! Providing platform for someone who denies the loss of a million people in his style of “Double genocide” is not only shameful to the speaker himself but also to the host.
As much as I may respect his right to exercise freedom of speech, I do think that the audience should not be subjected to falsehoods and it deserves another point of view. Why not invite for instance; One survivor from the Hotel, may be a government official, or independent views from people like Suzanne Allen from Emory University, Carl Wilkens, Phillip Gourevitch of the New Yorker and many others…
I have attended Rusesabagina’s speaking events in the past, despite the lack of substance, Rusesabagina will never accept to be debated by the people who were in the Hotel or anybody. Press him hard..he cannot accept it. OR ask him to share a panel with some Americans who were in Rwanda during genocide like Suzan Allen and Carl Wilkens, he will never accept it because he knows for sure that his lies will be uncovered and that will be the end of his "bread".
Please bear with, I had to express my concers through multiple comment since it was not possible to post them through one long comment