Rwanda News Agency/Agence Rwandaise d'Information (Kigali)
22 April 2008
interview
Kigali — Early this year RNA Board Deputy Chairman Privat Rutazibwa and Senior Presidential aide Dr. Alfred Ndahiro released a much publicized book 'Hotel Rwanda or the Tutsi Genocide as seen by Hollywood' attacking Mr. Paul Rusesabagina.
Recently, he also swiftly responded in a lengthy statement. RNA put to Mr. Privat Rutazibwa the issues raised by Mr. Rusesabagina. Read the exepts below in an email interview:
What do you think about this new response from Mr. Rusesabagina rebuking the book to which you are co-author?
I have just read the April 6th ten-page response of Paul Rusesabagina to our book Hotel Rwanda or the Tutsi Genocide as seen by Hollywood. My general comment is that the so-called response does not at all address or refute any of the issues and challenges put to him by the book. It instead engages in violent attacks against President Paul Kagame and more than thirty individuals and civil society organisations in Rwanda and abroad, most of whom have no clear relationship with our book. It is just amazing.
Mr. Rusesabagina puts to doubt the witnesses that you based on to write the book claiming that they were bribed, threatened and at time coerced into giving testimony against him. Don't you think that puts into question the methodology used to collect the information and ultimately the entire book?
Those who have read both our book and his response can crystal-clearly see that this argument is just an easy shortcut for Rusesabagina to escape serious issues raised about him in the book. Our working methodology was clear and no one can put it into question as regard to professional research standards.
We first of all used the interview with an open questionnaire to more than one hundred survivors of Hotel des Mille collines ; which represents almost ten per cent of the total 1268 people who sought refuge there during the 1994 Tutsi Genocide. Their written responses were statistically analysed and the most significant figures are mentioned in our book. The entire part of the statistical study of these testimonies was published by the scientific review of ULK university, as our publisher could not put all of it in the book for practical reasons. (ED - ULK is Université Libre de Kigali)
We also made lengthy interviews with specific survivors of Hotel des Mille Collines including employees, members of the Crisis Committee of Refugees in that hotel during the Genocide, and some others for their inside knowledge of the subject under study. Around 29 of these witnesses are quoted in our book, as well as two Genocide suspects or convicts who knew well Paul Rusesabagina, namely Valérie Bemeriki, the infamous RTLM hate journalist and George Rutaganda, who was personal friend to Rusesabagina and also second vice-president of the infamous Interahamwe militia.
Apart from interviews, we naturally used a wide documentation including the movie Hotel Rwanda itself, Rusesabagina's autobiography An ordinary Man, his various declarations to the media, his statements in many conferences he held in USA, Canada, Belgium or Tokyo after the release of the film; and considerable commentaries and information from other independent sources. Our 103 pages book includes at the end a four-page index indicating references for our main findings.
Part of our book is also some unpublished documents of great importance, including correspondence from the Crisis Committee of Refugees and the SABENA group which owned the Hotel at that time. The originals of these documents, especially those reproduced on pages 31, 35 and 37 of our book confirm various testimonies indicating that Rusesabagina, the interim manager of the Hotel, was putting pressure on totally destitute refugees to pay for their accommodation and meals in the hotel, either by cash, cheque or written pledges. Another document on page 67 is a correspondence from the head of the Central Intelligence Services to the then President Habyarimana's office, showing that Paul Rusesabagina was an informer to the intelligence apparatus of the genocidal regime.
These are the characteristics of our methodology as well as our main sources. They are transparent in that interested people can crosscheck if they wish. Rusesabagina does not bother giving a single source for his ten-page response completely made of insulting allegations to various people and organisations. Is that a credible method of arguing? At least not acceptable for sound minds.
Do you think Mr. Rusesabagina addresses the issues raised in the book?
Not at all, as I mentioned earlier. Contrary to the general belief created by the movie Hotel Rwanda in which Paul Rusesabagina is painted as the hero who had saved the 1268 people seeking refuge from genocide in « his » hotel, the book reveals a different reality.
· People did not come to seek refuge in Hotel des Mille Collines thanks to or because of Rusesabagina. Apart from 2 or 3 family friends he helped to rescue, others came because they thought the place was secure (with the presence of UNAMIR and many expatriates) and the most suitable for further evacuations to Europe.
· Rusesabagina arrived at Hotel des Milles Collines a week after the genocide had started. There were already a considerable number of refugees. He was heading to Gitarama along with the interim government he had hosted for a while in Hotel des Diplomates and he made a call to Mille Collines in search for fuel. When he discovered that the Dutch manager of the hotel had left leaving the keys to an inexperienced employee, he immediately decided to stay and maneuvered to take control of the hotel as interim manager. His motivation was not compassion to help refugees, but rather an opportunistic move.
· It is not Rusesabagina who protected the refugees from the genocidal killing machinery. They were saved thanks to a number of factors including diplomatic pressure from western countries, negotiations by UNAMIR to exchange hostages and other willing people between RPF and government controlled zones, Sabena interests, the presence of the French telecommunication system on the fifth floor of the hotel, commercial interests between George Rutaganda and Paul Rusesabagina for the hotel supplies, as well as the need of Rwandan army senior officers for a safe and comfortable place to relax after the killings.
· It is not Rusesabagina who struggled for their survival and welfare during their stay in the hotel. This was done by the Crisis Committee of Refugees headed by Tatien Ndolimana Miheto and whose members did not include Paul Rusesabagina. Many survivors also mention a certain Victor Munyarugerero, a decent Hutu who showed heroism, kindness and humanity going out to look for food and drive-back hiding people to the hotel, and paying guarantee money for them.
· In June 1994, Rusesabagina was evacuated with many other refugees to Kabuga in the RPF controlled zone. Some survivors consider he was a refugee like them and had no particular powers to protect them during their stay in Mille Collines.
The book further reveals a more disturbing situation: not only did Rusesabagina not help to save the refugees, but he was also perceived as a danger to many.
· Rusesabagina broke the morale of destitute refugees asking them to pay for accommodation, meals and telephone calls. He prevented some refugees who had no money or no one to pledge to pay for them, from entering the hotel.
· Rusesabagina was interested in making money at a time no one was keeping the books at the hotel. He was not happy to see the Red Cross bring food to the refugees, because he wanted them to buy at the stock of the hotel.
· Rusesabagina had very strong ties with the architects of the Tutsi Genocide, including General Augustin Bizimungu. Credible testimonies and a document from the Habyarimana Central Intelligence Services prove that he secretly revealed names and lists of some refugees to the RTLM hate radio and to the genocidal army high command.
People may wonder how such a person has been portrayed as a hero by the movie Hotel Rwanda. The response is simple. Rusesabagina served as special consultant to United Artists and Lions's Gate Films, the two American studios that produced the film. He therefore had the opportunity to shape the story to suit his purposes. His former colleagues describe him as an ambitious and opportunistic character, with a great sense of manipulation.
But the most intriguing paradox about Rusesabagina lies with the use he makes of his controversial fame. Rusesabagina has got applause and distinctions from prestigious organisations and world personalities including President George W. Bush, as a humanitarian hero who saved Tutsis from Genocide. Yet, Rusesabagina capitalises on this false reputation to try to build a political activism on two odious pillars: the ethnicist ideology which led to Genocide and the negationism of the very Tutsi Genocide from which he pretends to get heroism.
· Rusesabagina subscribes to the PARMEHUTU and Hutu Power principal of « Hutu political supremacy » or exclusiveness to power and citizenship. He dismisses the current political settlement of unity and reconciliation in Rwanda and describes Hutus in high ranking political positions as « Hutus de service » (or Hutus for hire). A position closely related to the infamous ten commandments of the Bahutu which stigmatised Hutus who were friends, associates or spouses of the Batutsi as traitors to the cause of Hutu Power.
· Rusesabagina is still an advocate of the thesis that « minority Tutsi enslaved majority Hutu many generations back » and that « Tutsis arrived in Rwanda after the Hutus », insinuating that Hutus are « indigenous » and Tutsis are « foreigners ». This thesis, deriving from colonial and missionaries anthropology and historiography is today completely discredited by serious scientific research, including the UNESCO General History of Africa. But from 1959 to the 1994 Genocide, Hutu extremists have always invoked those arguments as a justification both to their hatred and violence against Tutsis, as well as Tutsi discrimination and victimisation.
· Rusesabagina clearly tries to demonise Tutsis and exonerate Hutu extremists while explaining repetitive Tutsi killings in 1959, 1962, 1963, 1966, 1973, 1990, 1992 and even the 1994 Genocide. He intentionally manipulates historical facts for that end, when he says for instance that « the exile of the Batutsi in 1959 happened by accident because the Bahutu's aim was simply to evict the Belgian colonial masters. » For the 1959 Tutsi pogroms and exile, he further explains that « Tutsi became victims because they were collaborating with the colonial administrators. »
A photograph on page 41 of our book shows a demonstration of Hutu extremists of the PARMEHUTU party in 1960 with banners reading: « no to the immediate independence »; « live the Belgian guardianship ». Indeed, it is the Hutu extremists who were strong allies and puppets of the Belgian administration and the Catholic Church, in the fight against Tutsis collectively identified to the nationalist party UNAR which was claiming independence. As of the 1973 massacre of Tutsis in Rwanda, Rusesabagina explains that it was « normal reaction to what had happened in neighbouring Burundi ».
Rusesabagina also tries to justify the 1994 Tutsi Genocide in these terms: « . who took machetes first? . All those refugees who surrounded Kigali, who had been angry for four years, who had lost their family members, killed by the RPA rebels; they started revenging on everyone. » It is clear that for Rusesabagina, Tutsis are not only assimilated as a whole to political organisations - namely UNAR in the fifties-sixties and RPF in the nineties; but also are the ones to blame for the sufferings, persecutions and genocide inflicted to them.
The movie Hotel Rwanda's so-called hero is not only an ethnicist, racist in the straight line of the PARMEHUTU and Hutu Power ideology ; he is also an open negationist of the 1994 Tutsi Genocide.
· Rusesabagina does not accept that the Tutsi Genocide was planned. He rather says « it was committed by militia out of control ».
· Rusesabagina hardly uses the concept « Genocide ». He prefers « mass killings », « wave of mass murder »; and in a recent document, he talks of « mass killings commonly referred to as the 'Rwandan genocide of 1994' ». In an interview with Keith Hermon Snow, Rusesabagina regrets the fact that the UN internationally recognised the Tutsi Genocide: « we have to call it genocide, because we can never change it. This genocide designation has been decided by the Security Council. »
· Rusesabagina is a strong supporter of the thesis of « double genocide ». In the same interview, he affirms that killers « started revenging on everyone, . on Hutus and Tutsis, all together; on each and everyone ».
· Rusesabagina also defends another strange position according to which « Tutsis have committed a Genocide against Hutus ». In an interview with Reuters in January 2007, he says: « since 1994, Tutsis have been killing Hutus, and even now there are many who are being killed, or who simply disappear ». In the earlier mentioned interview with K.H. Snow, he talks of « a genocide committed by the Tutsis, the RPF rebels ».
· Rusesabagina declares innocent the architects of the Tutsi genocide, including army chief of staff during the genocide, Major-General Augustin Bizimungu; and calls « acts of self-defence » the crimes he is accused of.
· Rusesabagina also tries to exonerate Hutu genocide criminals by blaming on the current Rwandan government the so-called « genocide of Hutu intellectuals ». In his conference tours in Canada and Japan after the release of Hotel Rwanda, he claimed that « 50 % of the genocide suspects are innocent and are made up of the elite Hutu ».
· Rusesabagina keeps up strong ties with genocidaires. In his political activism, he considers the use of arms against the current regime in Rwanda as declared in a press conference in Brussels. For that end, his new political party PDR-Ihumure works closely with the FDLR, especially in Zambia where he started negotiations in August 2006 to have Zambian authorities change the status of Rwandans in Zambia from refugees to freedom fighters.
These are some highlights on the real character of movie Hotel Rwanda's hero Paul Rusesabagina as exposed in our book. He appears to be not only an imposter, but also a dangerous anti-tutsi ethnicist ideology bearer, as well as a negationist of the Tutsi Genocide. His so-called response to the book does not tackle any of these serious issues. He prefers to wage violent verbal attacks against individuals and organisations just to create diversion.
The response from Mr. Rusesabagina attacks you personally, as well as the Rwanda News Agency that he calls the Rwanda Information Agency to which you were founding head. He says you have become an RPF ideologue and the Agency has become as propaganda tool for the RPF. What do you have to say about all this?
Just that they are false and ridiculous allegations. The RPF was created in 1979 under the name of RANU. It transformed itself into its current denomination in 1987 and launched the liberation war in 1990. This political movement had already a clear ideology when I joined it - as many Rwandans of my generation did- in 1992. And from that time to date, I have never held an official position in the party, nor been requested to draw a new ideology for it.
I surprisingly hold this appointment of « RPF ideologue » from Belgian academic and pro-Hutu ethicist ideology supporter and promoter Filip Reyntjens. In reaction to my writings where I denounce him and this ideology as the root cause of Rwanda's Tutsi genocide and other regional tragedies, the Belgian academic decided to gratify me with this title in many of his publications, hoping to call into question my credibility. What Rusesabagina does is nothing but a « cut and paste » exercise, as often do many organisations of their ideological circle.
As regard to the Rwanda News Agency, I don't need to respond to the allegation of Rusesabagina and other ideologically affiliated organisations. Our subscribers, readers and many other media partners are the best qualified to respond to it. A number of them have at many occasions publicly praised the agency for its high professional standards. And should the RPF or any other strategic investor come in with more funds, I will not feel ashamed to welcome it, contrary to what Rusesabagina insinuates. Provided the professional standards are kept high.
As a researcher, journalist and private citizen, don't you think having worked on the book with a senior presidential aide Dr. Alfred Ndahiro can be understood as working just to tarnish Mr. Rusesabagina's on behalf of the RPF?
That would be an unfortunate misrepresentation. Mr. Ndahiro and I wrote the book as two individual citizens. His position as presidential aide is just one aspect of his multi-faceted background as a human being. And I must say that this aspect of his background was not the most decisive in the writing of the book. The task required more of his intellectual abilities than his political position.
It is therefore profoundly unfair and absurd to invoke his political position to turn our book into a government project as Rusesabagina would like it to be seen. The government has various resources and different channels through which it can express its views. And in this particular case, I can at least testify that neither the President's Office nor any other government department did hire my consultancy services, if we had to assume that Mr. Ndahiro worked under his regular terms as civil servant.
We worked as intellectuals who seek to contribute to enlighten a matter of public debate, not only in Rwanda, but also beyond, where the movie Hotel Rwanda has reached. The issue can not therefore be reduced to a political controversy between Rusesabagina and the RPF. And ultimately, people should focus on the content of our book and possibly challenge its professional standards, rather than being governed by irrational biases and assumptions.
Anything else you would want rise?
Only two observations. First, I think I would never have committed my time to write this book, if Rusesabagina had only been an ordinary imposter and political activist. There are certainly many cases of fraud around the world, and I am not invested with the sacred mission to address them. My great concern, - and consequently the motivation to write - was the way Rusesabagina easily and cynically recycles the ethnicist and genocidal ideology which destroyed our nation and still remains a big threat. Whenever such an ideology will have a convenient platform to be expressed and spread, the efforts of reconciliation and reconstruction in Rwanda will always be jeopardised.
Some weeks back, Rwandans were shocked by the assassination of a young Tutsi student by fellow Hutu classmates in the western province due to the same ideology. A recent parliamentary report also showed its growing presence in our schools. This is a direct consequence of the international support given to this criminal ideology. When our youth realises that the same ideology is promoted by « reputable » individuals and organisations all over the world, they adopt it as a model, as a normal way of thinking, behaving and acting. I think international promoters and supporters of ethnicist ideology and political activists should become aware of their moral and potential criminal responsibility in this regard.
My second observation is about the demonisation of the RPF and the post Genocide Rwandan leadership. The tactic is obvious in Rusesabagina's mentioned response to our book. He makes a long list of individuals and organisations relating them to the RPF and the Rwandan government. Being real or imaginary, this stated relationship is sufficient for him to call into question their reputation, moral and professional credibility. Because, he believes, RPF or government views must automatically be rejected without prior consideration.
This tactic is common to all political and ideological affiliates in the so-called Rwandan political opposition abroad. Most surprisingly, the same tactic is also applied by « reputable » international organisations like Reporters Sans Frontières, International Crisis Group . to mention but a few. I strongly believe - and this is a position I totally stand-by as an independent citizen - that the RPF and the post-Genocide Rwandan leadership deserve much respect from everyone.
They stopped the Tutsi Genocide and never sought revenge. They immediately embarked on national healing, reconciliation and reconstruction with courage, generosity, vision and dedication. They have so far registered commendable and impressive achievements in various areas, even if there will always be room for improvements. To ignore, to despise or negate this moral greatness on their part is certainly the main insult to our national consciousness.
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