Backing Rwanda terror kingpin a stain on US Congress

It’s absurd for US Lawmakers to vote for a resolution calling for the release of Rwanda’s terror kingpin, Paul Rusesabagina.

Rusesabagina who was portrayed in the Oscar-nominated movie “Hotel Rwanda,” was, in September 2021, found guilty of forming and funding a group that carried out terrorist attacks in Rwanda, and was sentenced to 25 years in prison.

His group’s terrorist activities claimed many lives and caused property damages.

But resolution HR 892, co-sponsored by Congressman Joaquin Castro and Congresswoman Kim Young called for unconditional release of Rusesabagina, a convicted terrorist, on humanitarian grounds. Nowhere did these lawmakers mention the plight of the victims of this man’s actions. People accuse them of double standards and lack of empathy to the victims and survivors of the brutal attacks of his MRCD/FLN terrorists.

The action of the US lawmakers also smacks of hypocrisy of the highest order. Among other cases, the US holds a number of alleged terrorists in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, locked there for decades now. No US lawmaker has raised concern about the plight of these detainees.

One lawmaker, Congresswoman Ilhan Omar, Illinois, voted against the resolution.

She opposed it saying that the crimes Rusesabagina was accused of were very serious and that there is no guarantee that if he is released, he would not continue to support terrorist activities against Rwanda.

It's scandalous to see the other two lawmakers accepting to be used by Rusesabagina’s family, his PR machine, and a cabal of so-called human rights organisations like the Lantos Foundation and Human Rights Watch.

It defies logic to continue to perpetuate falsehoods about Rusesabagina as a “critic” of the Rwandan government, whom the world owes a debt of recognition as a hero who saved threatened refugees during the 1994 genocide against the Tutsi. Incontestable evidence exits to prove that this man didn’t save anyone, and that he was allied with the ring leaders of the same genocidaire regime such as Col Theoneste Bagosora and Gen Augustin Bizimungu whom he defended during their trial at the ICTR in Arusha, Tanzania.

In publishing “Hotel Rwanda hero’s daughter pleads for  help” on February 09, 2022, the US-based Axios rehashed the same elaborate lies by Rusesabagina’s family claiming that he was kidnapped in Dubai, and that he is innocent.

Rusesabagina travelled on his own will to Burundi and was tricked to land in Kigali to face justice.

Calling his trial “sham” is also a mockery of Rwanda’s judicial system, which has received international recognition by countries around the world who extradited a number of genocide fugitives to Rwanda where they are tried.

What about releasing him for humanitarian grounds because he’s a cancer survivor and must be repatriated home? Some people argue that before he got involved in the terror campaign which claimed many lives inside Rwanda, he knew his medical condition and should have weighed its consequences.

To understand how Rwanda’s terror kingpin doesn’t deserve an ounce of humanity, one must read a letter addressed to Carine Kanimba by one of the widows of the attacks in Nyabimata sector in South western Rwanda.

The letter shows the agony of people, young and old, who were impacted, for ever, by Rusesabagina’s actions.

Nevertheless, the US lawmakers preferred to ignore the cries for justice by Rusesabagina’s victims and  express their staunch support to a proven terrorist mastermind. They wrongly believe that pressure on Rwanda government will help secure his unconditional release.

This has the hallmark of a condescending attitude and arrogance shown by the West towards Africans, especially Rwandans.

Just as Rwandan parliamentarians cannot interfere in the US judicial process, US lawmakers too should stop meddling in the case of Rusesabagina and his 20 co-accused.