Global north media's last attempt to cleanse Rusesabagina of terror charges

As we approach Judgement Day in the case of Paul Rusesabagina and 20 co-accused of crimes of terrorism, the global north media is involved in a last-ditch effort to sanitise him and pre-empt any verdict expected on September 20.

The Prosecution initially requested a life behind bars for the man who stands accused of funding and leading a terrorist organisation, the Rwandan Movement for Democratic Change (MRCD) and armed wing, the National Front for Liberation (FLN), which caused terror in parts of south-western Rwanda.

Aoife Kavanagh, of the Irish Times in “Calls from Rwandan jail: Rusesabagina’s family campaign for father’s release,” (August 14), repeats the usual shiny image of Rwanda’s Oskar Schindler and wrote: “as a manager of the Mille Collins during the genocide, he saved the lives of more than 1,200 Hutus and Tutsis by helping them to hide out in the hotel.”

This depiction of a selfless man eager to protect the Tutsi from marauding armed Hutu militias has been disputed by survivors from that hotel and documents which show that Rusesabagina, among other things, charged the refugees money for occupying the rooms.

What is bewildering in this article is the diversion from a man accused of serious terrorism charges to the recipient of the Presidential Medal of Freedom from President George Walker Bush in 2005. The writer forgets that other celebrities like Bill Crosby also received the same medal but later ended up in a penitentiary because of serious crimes.

What is disingenuous also is alleging that Rusesabagina’s troubles started that day, while we all know that this was not the case. Like many other reporters before him, Kavanagh swallowed Rusesabagina’s adoptive daughter Carine Kanimba’stronghold lie that the sole crime that his father committed was to “outshine (President) Kagame.”

No wonder the family and supporters dispute the 2018 video in which Rusesabagina publicly calls for an armed overthrow of the government in Rwanda while praising violent attacks of his FLN terrorist outfit which claimed many lives and destroyed a lot of property. They claim Rusesabagina’s words in plain English were taken out of context.

By so doing, they ignore overwhelming evidence of his terrorist activities collected from the Belgian Prosecution, the FBI, the co-accused and testimonies from people like Dr Michelle Martin, who worked with him.

It is also disturbing to see how Chris McGreal, a Guardian’s correspondent based in Johannesburg distorts the truth and paints Rusesabagina not as an alleged terrorist but as “a high-profile critic of Paul Kagame,” whose sole crime was standing up against him.

The title of the article “From hero of Hotel Rwanda to dissident facing life in prison” published in the London-based The Observer on August 15, represents the extent to which the global media would go to mislead its readers.

Rusesabagina is not pursued for being a critic of President Paul Kagame but for his alleged terrorist activities, as evidence during the months-long trial indicated. McGreal also resorts to the mythic Rusesabagina, Hollywood hero who saved the Tutsi from machete-wielding Hutu militiamen and who received the White House Medal of Freedom. What he does not want to report is how such a man changed into proponent of a violent armed insurrection against his country of origin.

McGreal veers into a revisionism narrative, a favoured theme of the global north media. He wrote: “underpinning the case are accusations by the two men that the other is a fraud with blood on his hands. But beyond the personal dispute, the confrontation reflects an increasingly bitter divide over Rwanda’s recent history and the legitimacy of Kagame’s 27-year rule.” 

But who is questioning Kagame’s legitimacy? It is not 13 million Rwandans but Rwanda’s detractors who have found a good listening ear in the corrupt global north media like The Guardian.No wonder McGreal also rehashes Rusesabagina and company’s often trumped accusation of double genocide.

All this is evidently a distraction because Rusesabagina is in trouble because of terrorism-related charges. The Agence France Press (AFP) article in French published on August 17 conveys similar arguments as in The Observer’s painting Rusesabagina as dissident.

However, it also runs the Rwandan government counterargument to allegations that Rusesabagina’s trial is politically motivated. AFP quotes Yolande Makolo, the government’s spokesperson saying: “Les Africains/Rwandais ne doivent pas se protéger contre des attaques de groupes terroristes? Ou faut-il refuser la justice aux victimes civiles parce que l’un des 21 suspects est célèbre à l’étranger? » (Africans/Rwandans should not protect themselves against attacks from terrorist groups? Or is it right to deny justice to innocent civilian victims because one of the 21 suspects is a celebrity abroad).