Dear Carine, Let me introduce myself to you. I am Mukashyaka Josephine, a resident of Rwerere Village, Nyabimata sector, Nyaruguru District, Southern Province, Rwanda. Of course, you don’t know me, and neither do I know you, but we share one thing in common - Paul Rusesabagina. I read your letter titled “The Letter We Can’t Send To My Father,” in which you praised Paul Rusesabagina, referring to him as a humanitarian and advocate of human rights. In the same letter, you were calling on the world to intervene to save him from facing justice in Rwanda. I have to respond, to shed more light on the activities of your father. I have the grief of permanently losing a husband, and a breadwinner, and the grief of watching my children orphaned. Carine, your father is not dead. He is only undergoing trial for crimes he committed, conducted by competent courts. At least you know where he is and you might visit him in prison someday if you so wish. But my husband, the father to our two children is gone forever. I lost my husband, Fidel Munyaneza on 19 June, 2018 when a group of armed infiltrators, who we later came to know were FLN, attacked Nyabimata Sector and went on a killing spree, before Rwandan security forces intervened and forced them to retreat through the Nyungwe Forest. My husband was a teacher just like me, and our combined income accorded our family a modest lifestyle. He was only 45 years old, and in the 10 years of our wonderful marriage, we had set out our goals of raising and providing for our children in the best way possible. But Fidel is no more. Life will never be the same. Dear Carine, my husband’s promising life was cut short by gunshots discharged by the FLN of which your father has admitted to forming. It doesn’t matter now how many excuses you make on his behalf, your father has confessed. You cannot defend someone who has admitted to a crime. Your father, as you say, was your hero. My husband too was his family’s hero. He woke up every day to face the hardships of life, for the happiness of his family. But thanks to the acts of your father, the man you so eloquently portray to the world as a victim or as a saint, the happiness of my family is gone. You dedicated your letter to your father and all fathers. But sit back and imagine my two children, who are now 8 and 12 years old. They have to grow up without a father, all because your own father chose violence as the avenue to pursue his political ambitions. Now our two children will never write a letter to their father, because of your father. And yet you are throwing tantrums because your father has been apprehended and is facing justice. In your letter, you are proclaiming to the world that your father is a humanitarian and a die-hard advocate of human rights. But I wonder whether we are talking about the same man. The Paul Rusesabagina we know has no value for human life. His main interest is amassing wealth, and the pursuit of power through violence aimed at innocent Banyarwanda. That is why he decided to form the armed group that killed my husband and wreaked havoc in Nyabimata. You may have the knowledge, fame, money, the means and the connections to mislead the world, but I have the truth on my side, and God as my witness. I want the world to understand that the lives of the ordinary people matter too. As you put to use all your resources to mobilise the world to rescue your father, you dishonestly state that: “In most places in the world, we know that freedom of speech shouldn’t lead to kidnapping, improper treatment, denial of an attorney and speaking to your family.” You talk as if you don’t share the same world with the rest of us. Rusesabagina is not in trouble because he “exercised his freedom of speech.” He has admitted to forming terrorist groups, in the courts of law, and in videos seen on the Internet. That is why we, the family of Munyaneza Fidel, read your letter where you labor to absolve your father of wrongdoing with a bitter taste. Dear Carine, you claim that your father is an advocate of human rights. Wasnt my husband a human being? To many Rwandans, no one from the Rusesabagina family has the right to talk about the “troubles of a father”, following Rusesabagina’s crimes, yet he is alive and in good hands. I want to tell you that my husband, Fidel Munyaneza, was a responsible and passionate parent, a loving husband, and a patriotic citizen. In the last 10 years of our marriage, we never had any reason to quarrel. He was a soft-spoken person who was well regarded in his community. That is the reason he was elected as the president of the Nyabimata cell advisory council. But the activities of your father took him away from us, and his absence leaves us with unspeakable pain. We, the aggrieved families of Nyabimata, believe it is a very good thing that Rusesabagina has been apprehended and is being made to answer for his crimes. We are equally glad his terrorists will be starved of support, which assures us there will be no more attacks to deprive other people of their loved ones. This is a translated version of a letter that was originally published in a local Kinyarwanda news website
