John Kamau
9 April 2004
Nairobi — Hotel Rwanda is the latest movie on the 1994 genocide. Starring Don Cheadle and Nick Nolte, the movie recounts the true story of hotelier Paul Rusesabagina, a Hutu, who sheltered more than 1, 260 Tutsis from marauding militias at the elite Hotel des Mille Collines.
Any one visiting Kigali for the first time would have no difficulty spotting the hotel. It is the second largest after Hotel Inter-Continental.
The four-star, five-storey building is the rendezvous for diplomats, dignitaries and tourists en route to Rwanda's famous gorilla parks.
Most visitors to Kigali, too concerned about the genocide than the mountain apes, make stop-overs here - to see a place where one good man tried to save Rwanda, as others, including the United Nations peacekeepers, walked away on a desperately sinking nation.
Mille Collines is one place where a positive story on Rwanda could be found, a place to pay homage or just sit and recollect about a country that almost exterminated itself.
There is little to see, but the story of the hotel is one of triumph against evil. The churches, schools, stadiums and hospitals in Kigali and its environs have all been turned into human abattoirs, yet one place in this town saved what it held.
It is today a miracle story in Rwanda.
The star of the success story, Mr Paul Rusesabagina, is no longer at the hotel and has since the genocide been living in Brussels with his family. But his legacy is now immortalised in at least two movies about the story of a Rwandans, who refused to be cowed, and managed to save Tutsi businessmen, politicians and other members of the Tutsi elite, who were the prime targets as the genocide craze picked after the death of President Juvenal Habyarimana in April 1994.
Ten years ago, the gates of Mille Collines shut out armed militiamen on patrol as terrified guests made a countdown to their deaths inside, while Kigali drowned in human blood.
Unlike in churches, where pastors gave in to the Interhamwe and handed over Tutsis for extermination, Mille Collines refused to budge.
Today, the well-manicured lawns and the well-tended flowerbeds may have changed a little. But the serenity is for real, belying the fact that 10 years ago it was shattered and replaced with fear as the compound teamed with Interahamwe militia and Hutu soldiers baying for blood of Tutsi's holed up in the hotel.
Although movie directors are today trying to dramatise the story of Mille Collines, any visitor could feel the fear that stalked the refugees here in 1994 as Rusesabagina made efforts to save their lives. The hotelier has worked closely with cast and filmmakers of Hotel Rwanda to ensure authenticity. "In 1994, we were condemned to death, and I was first on the list because I was the one protecting refugees," Rusesabagina has been quoted as saying.
At that time, improvised tents were pitched and he rationed water from the swimming pool to ensure everyone survived the terror.
Rusesabagina used his influence as a prominent Hutu businessman - whose wife and mother were Tutsi - to protect lives.
As he was to later tell the international media, the hotelier never thought he was brave. "I was just working as quickly as possible to avoid a disaster".
It was from this hotel that the first major evacuation attempt after the genocide started. A large group of refugees was to be allowed to leave the city.
But despite a small UN escort, Interahamwe stopped the convoy at a roadblock and began threatening them with death.
A soldier of the UN peacekeeping force went to look for Georges Rutaganda, the Interhamwe deputy president, to negotiate with the would-be killers to allow the refugees to return safely to the hotel. Somehow, and miraculously, they were allowed back.
The refugees used swimming pool water to bath and drink, and they slept in a single room as the hotel used its stock of beer, wines and spirits to bribe would-be killers.
Using a secret telephone line to appeal for international help, the hotel manager refused to be cowed by even Hutu commander Augustin Bizimungu, who paid regular visits to the hotel to scare the already terrified refugees. The hotelier also rebuffed attempts by Fr Wenceslas Munyeshyaka, a Catholic priest implicated in the genocide.
The clergyman walked to the nearby Saint Famille Church, a revolver tucked away under his belt, to help butcher Tutsis holed up there.
The hotel's place in Rwanda's history will forever be guaranteed.
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