Kezio-Musoke David
24 March 2008
book review
Kigali — A new book has just been launched in Kigali. It is titled, 'Hotel Rwanda or the Tutsi Genocide as seen by Hollywood".
This title sounds almost like a sequel to Hollywood's 2004 blockbuster movie Hotel Rwanda.
This book is actually disputing the events that transpired in the film.
The authors of the new book after several investigations have come out to say 'Hotel Rwanda' is fiction. They say that the film's main heroic figure, Mr Paul Rusesabagina is using the success of the movie for political and other manipulative interests.
The authors include President Paul Kagame's Adviser on Communication and Public Relations, Dr Ndahiro Alfred and Privat Rutazibwa a Rwandan academic.
Hotel Rwanda is a historical dramatic film based on one of Kigali's biggest hotels, Des Mille Collines and events at the during the 1994 Rwanda genocide.
The film is about the life of Mr Rusesabagina as a former hotelier at Des Mille Collines.
Mr Rusesabagina, a Hutu is portrayed as a man who used his political position, social skills and quick wit to rescue over 1,200 lives mostly Tutsis, who had sought refugee at Des Mille Collines.
The movie has been repeatedly referred to as the African 'Schindler's List' for it's portrayal of Mr Rusesabagina's humanitarianism.
According to the authors of the book, it is unfortunate that the dreadful situation that these people found themselves entangled in for weeks is what Hollywood picked on, for screen play in Hotel Rwanda and yet there were several distortions of what actually transpired. The movie was nominated for three Oscars including one for the Best Actor Award, for the role played by the acclaimed black American actor, Don Cheadle.
An original adaptation
The events in the movie were inspired by an original adaptation from Mr Rusesabagina's autobiography, An Ordinary Man, which was published after the production of the movie, by Viking Books.
When Mr Rusesabagina's book was released, he was presented by all kinds of commentaries. The most profoundly was him being referred to as Rwanda's Oscar Schindler.
His autobiography was also ranked as one of the greatest classics of tolerance literature including being compared to Nelson Mandela's Long Walk to Freedom. After the success of the movie Mr Rusesabagina became extraordinarily famous. He was received twice by US President George W. Bush who awarded him the Presidential Medal Award.
The authors of the new book disputing the Hotel Rwanda events say that Mr Rusesabagina also took pride for his recognition of the brave deeds the film credits him with by receiving the International Freedom Award, the Immortal Chaplains Prize for Humanity, Amnesty International's Enduring Spirit Award and many more.
According to the authors, as a result of this fame, Mr Rusesabagina has given a certain number of talks in the United States, Canada as well as in Brussels and Tokyo which are even diversionary.
"His plans to give more talks in American cities were thwarted by an opposing group of Rwandans in diaspora, who were profoundly upset by the account of his supposed heroic deeds," says the authors.
The new book, Hotel Rwanda or the Tutsi Genocide as seen by Hollywood, was unveiled last week at the Des Mille Collines in the presence of Rwandan Prime Minister Bernard Makuza.
The book is highly critical of Mr Rusesabagina's current activities which include travelling all over Europe and soliciting funds through his NGO, Hotel Rwanda Rusesabagina Foundation (HRRF). This foundation, according to Mr Rusesabagina uses the money to provide financial assistance to children and women affected by the genocide in Rwanda, something officials in Kigali have called financial manipulation.
During the launch, the hotel didn't seem to be the same as the one in the movie. One of the most striking things about Des Mille Collines, was it's total absence of references to the historic act of heroism that took place there during the genocide. There are no mementos, no souvenirs, not even a sign or a picture of Mr Rusesabagina.
One would think that Mr Rusesabagina's story in Hotel Rwanda was positive for Rwanda. But the witnesses including former employees, survivors and Rwanda's Premier, Mr Makuza, say that the sordid reality of the episodes at Hotel des Mille Collines were transformed into a sort of present day 'chanson de geste' (songs of heroic deeds).
Pasa Mwenenganganuke who was a receptionist until the time of the genocide says, "Rusesabagina occupied suite 126 where he received his friends, including those who organised and planned the extermination of Batutsi."
Wellars Bizumuremyi another surviving employee at Des Mille Collines says, "I think it misrepresents the events that took place in the hotel and that make Rusesabagina into a hero that he does not qualify to be."
Premier, Mr Makuza said at the launch that there is no one Mr Rusesabagina went out to save.
In Kigali today Mr Rusesabagina is almost persona-non-grata, for coming out in broad daylight to defend a few minions of genocide and its architects.
Ruthless architects
Part of the book reads that Mr Rusesabagina has gone as far as proclaiming that some of the ruthless architects of the genocide like Major General Augustine Bizimungu, Colonel Theoneste Bagosora and Georges Rutagada are innocent.
"He even expressed the desire to testify on their behalf before the (Arusha) tribunal. He wrote in black and white in his 2006 autobiography that he is not apologetic about his friendship with Major General Bizimungu and yet Major General Bizimungu's Curriculum Vitae is a tale of bloodletting. Why has Paul Rusesabagina whole-heartedly espoused negationist and revisionists activities," the authors ask.
According to the BBC, Mr Rusesabagina in June last year wrote to UN Chief Ban Ki-moon, asking for some governing Rwandan Patriotic Front (RPF) members to face justice for alleged crimes committed during the genocide.
Mr Rusesabagina is quoted by the BBC's Great Lakes service as saying, "if the (Arusha) tribunal ends its functions having only considered one side of the problem, most of us would see it as a biased tribunal and instead of resolving the Rwandan unity problem, it would have worsened it."
Authors of the new book
The authors of the new book say Mr Rusesabagina is trying to disguise his political ambitions behind a so-called 'humanitarian commitment.'
They add that he is attempting to use this dramatic episode of the country's history as a stepping stone to power.
The book says that in his appearances at the first screening of Hotel Rwanda and at the launch of his autobiography, Mr Rusesabagina embarked upon a divisive ethnic discourse in some ways reminiscent of Parmehutu ideology and that of Hutu power.
While at a conference in Brussels in January 2006 he allegedly said that Rwandans and outsiders often ask him to 'create something powerful enough to help Rwandans change things in Rwanda."Zambia is one of the countries in which Rusesabagina hopes to install his military base a number of genocidaires have found a safe haven there," says the book.
According to the book Mr Rusesabagina added that something was already up and running in the US and Canada to the extent that he already had a representative in each of the 50 US states and that in Canada, something was already deeply rooted.
The book concludes: "This ideology is visible first in Rusesabagina's deliberate distortion of Rwanda's history.
"He attempts to falsify the historical context of the genocide in order to absolve the Hutu killers and clear the genocidal Hutu regimes that succeeded each other.
He fails to point out the negative impact of colonial heritage that preached and practised the policy of divide and rule that led to the rupture of Rwanda society."
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