Rusesabagina’s smear campaign against Rwanda’s leaders continues

While Rwanda still mourns the Genocide perpetrated 14 years ago against more than 1 million Rwandans, Paul Rusesabagina, a self-proclaimed hero fallaciously claims having saved 1,268 people that took refuge in the Hotel des Milles Collines in 1994. He still continues to cultivate a negative image of Rwanda among the Rwandan Diaspora, friends of Rwanda as well as other foreigners - though lately with little success. This was evidenced by a number of conferences and interviews Paul Rusesabagina had these last months with different personalities in order to attempt different ways of promoting his disingenuous ideology based on sectarianism that he uses as a playing card to vilify the government in Rwanda. In the same vein, Rusesabagina convened a conference in Brussels on November 24, 2007, that intended to entrench his negative propaganda. As our readers might recall, we described how access to that conference was denied to Rwandans who do not belong to his extremist ethnic-based ideology by a security cordon that was manned at the entrance by the most extreme among his followers. The access was also restricted in favour of some foreigners who share his negationism of the Rwandan Genocide such as the recently indicted French writer Pierre Péan whose book, Noires fureurs Blancs menteurs, alleges the existence of a Double Genocide, a revisionist attempt to alter realities of the well-known history of the 1994 Genocide with other false comparisons. Fortunately, as it is so easy to discern the malicious intention of the propaganda he advocates, the conference was attended by a small number of participants, but Rusesabagina later on lied to the international media that the conference was welcomed and attended by many people. Similarly on the closing of the EU-ACP summit that was held in Kigali last November, Rusesabagina himself, having realized that foreign delegates might have been aware of the significant steps that have been made by the Rwandan government, organised an interview with a Dutch journalist called Raymond Frenzen, the founder and chief-editor of EUX.TV, in order to persuade him that whatever good is done in Rwanda benefits Tutsis at the expense of the Hutus. Whereas discrimination in Rwanda is a crime according to the Rwandan Constitution, Rusesabagina still perpetuates the tool that was unfortunately the cause of the 1994 Genocide. As written previously, he benefited out of the heinous crime of the 1994 Genocide and it is hence not surprising that he is trying the same tools in the hope of its incarnation. He is, however, living in history. Rwandans have said no to ethnic ideology and it is actually a transcended subject and disappeared with the collapse of the Habyarimana dictatorial regime. The present government of national unity and reconciliation has a single concern which is the development of its citizens and empowerment of all on an equal base, different from the past when policies of exclusion and discrimination prevailed. This is an issue that is easily perceptible by even a primary school kid in present Rwanda. In the article entitled Hotel Rwanda; the Sequel - Rusesabagina seeks Truth and Reconciliation for Rwanda published by Dutch journalist Raymond Frenzen, Paul Rusesabagina persuaded him that anti-retroviral medicines benefit only Tutsis at the expense of Hutu HIV positive patients. It would seem by this as if the Genocide continues, and that Aids is used as one of the new weapons. This is honestly an illusory statement although it clearly shows the true colors of Rusesabagina, the unscrupulous self-styled hero. First of all ethnic-based identity aspects are illegitimate in current Rwanda. Unlike the previous regimes, ethnic based identity cards were banned by the current government and all are now viewed and identified equally as Rwandans. Secondly, unless Rusesabagina wants people to believe that blood tests can identify the ethnic group to which one belongs, this would be in perfect line with his genocide ideology. On the contrary, Rwandans wouldn’t agree with Rusesabagina’s claims that Hutus are still being systematically and pervasively discriminated against. Indeed, retired U.S. chemistry teacher Albert Schlueter, now working with students in Rwanda on a voluntary basis, took an offensive with a recent commentary written locally by Cheadle’s cinematic namesake; he insists that in fact much progress is being made and openly seen by whoever happens to visit or stay in Rwanda at present. nother deceptive piece of information that Rusesabagina gave the journalist and published in the afore-mentioned article is that in Rwanda there is a police force that is not known to so many people called the Local Defense Forces. Honestly, this is something that can only be questioned by somebody only deliberately bent on conveying a terribly negative image of Rwanda’s administration for some hidden motives. The Local Defense Forces are known to be persons of integrity chosen by the population itself to take part in the maintaining of security in their local sectors or cells. This is well known by everybody in Rwanda, foreign or local, and nobody complains about it; and to be precise they are well known to the population because they work closer to them and are selected on merit by the very people they serve. In addition to that they are managed by the people themselves at their respective lower levels. In his wicked plan of carrying on doing his discreditable propaganda, on January 2, Paul Rusesabagina declared his wish to lobby US Presidential candidate Hilary Clinton to support the establishment of his groundless ‘Truth and Reconciliation Commission. However, if followed up, the latest revelations that Mrs. Clinton pressed his husband to intervene during the 1994 genocide, although in vain, he would have understood that it is unlikely that someone who saw what was happening and recognized it for what it was, genocide, would let herself be lured by falsehoods and clumsy allegations like he keeps making against the current regime. Obviously, Rusesabagina’s view of one group of Rwandans, who have been described as being in the minority, as controlling all the various districts and cell positions, as well as the elected Parliament, is mathematically impossible and exploits colonial-inspired hatred. Finally, Rusesabagina’s views take Rwanda back to Habyarimana’s policy of ethnic identification and he had better know that genuine Rwandans have said in one voice that Never Again. Rusesabagina’s self-described family history makes this point clear. One of his parents is Hutu and the other Tutsi and this is common among Rwandans, he said. Instead of being Rwandan he is still inclined and insisting on the use of discriminative ethinism for his own selfish ends. The Habyarimana government, following the colonial example, forced an identity on him, and he wishes to perpetuate identity politics, even though most experts agree that one of the causes of conflict is identity politics. Rusesabagina’s views take Rwanda back to the colonial period, if not the Genocide-promoting policies of the Habyarimana government, and this leads every good thinker to ask himself/herself how such a Hollywood-made hero who saved people now turns his sword towards the very people he claims to have suffered for One can reasonably rule out his pretended heroism and consider him an opportunist and a mere discriminative agent.Ends