Dear Hon. Members,

 

 

I am writing to you this letter in reference to your Resolution H.Res.892, sponsored by Representative Castro Joaquin (D-TX-20) and voted unanimously by Congress, on July 14, 2022, which calls on the Rwandan government to immediately release Paul Rusesabagina on humanitarian grounds. I wish to bring to your attention that the resolution carries a number of factual errors, misrepresentation of facts and an absurd sense of entitlement to give orders to other countries and leaders.  

 

 

First of all, you refer to Rusesabagina as a Rwandan political activist, which portrays him as a legitimate critic of the Rwandan government, ignoring all hard evidence, some provided by the FBI, on his links with armed terror groups operating from eastern DRC. Rusesabagina transferred sums of money through Western Union to sponsor terror operations in Rwanda. Being a permanent resident of the US and a recipient of a Presidential Medal of Freedom Honoree is inconsequential given the gravity of his crimes. Rusesabagina is a Rwandan by birth. And he committed crimes against Rwandans for which he must be held accountable.

 

 

It is ironical for the US Congress, is calling on Rwanda to release a person who is not remorseful of his terror acts.  There are numerous interviews and videos where Rusesabagina bragged on VOA and BBC about attacks carried out inside Rwanda by his political party - Rwandan Movement for Democratic Change (MRCD), and its armed wing-National Liberation Forces (FLN). In one VOA interview, in 2019, to the questions of whether the FLN militia are still occupying Nyungwe Forest, Rusesabagina replied: “We did not go there to leave. We are angry. What we want is our rights as native Rwandans.”

 

 

Is this a language of a political activist?

 

 

Millions of Rwandans are saddened by the fact that your resolution focuses on one man, Rusesabagina, whose crimes are similar to those of Bin Laden, and ignores to show any humanitarian sympathy to the victims of Rusesabagina’s terror attacks.

 

 

Innocent people were killed and their families are still crying for justice. They feel that his jail term was not punishment enough. It won’t bring their loved ones back yet the criminal behind it all lives on and his supporters, including you, continue to add insults to their pain.

 

 

Claiming enforced disappearance and extrajudicial transfer to Rwanda of Rusesabagina exposes double standards and hypocrisy on the part of US Congress. When Hamid Noury, a former Iranian prosecutor was lured to Sweden and arrested, US human rights watch Director, Kenneth Roth, called it, “a strategic use of universal jurisdiction.” But when Rwanda uses similar tactics to lure Rusesabagina into arrest, it turns into “enforced disappearance!”

 

 

Your resolution makes reference to another resolution adopted by the European Parliament on October 7, 2021, which, “calls for the immediate release of Mr Rusesabagina on humanitarian grounds and for his repatriation without prejudice to his guilt or innocence.” The European parliament is making the same mistake you have done. Two wrongs do not make anything right. In both cases there is no polite request. You are giving orders to a sovereign independent state. Shame!

 

The claim of violation of Rusesabagna’s rights and lack of fair trial is contempt of Rwanda’s judicial system and disrespect of Rwanda’s rule of law, as well as the principle of foreign non-interference in other countries’ legal processes. The claim insinuates that it is only the US judges who can be trusted to deliver a fair trial. The US administration is holding several suspects at Guantamo Bay and other secret CIA “black sites” as suspected masterminds of 9/11 attack, who include;  Ammar al-Baluchi, Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, Walid bin Attash, Ramzi Binalshibh and Mustafa al-Hawsawi.

 

 

Pleas by the families of 9/11 suspects to be released on humanitarian groups have fallen on deaf ears for more than a decade. Why hasn’t the US house of representatives passed a resolution requesting the US administration to release these suspects on humanitarian grounds but quickly jumped on ordering Rwanda to release Rusesabagina who has not yet even served a year of his 25-year jail term? Rusesabagina, a Hollywood made ‘hero’ is not above the law, nor does his US permanent residence give him special status against prosecution under international law.  

 

It is absurd for the US Congress to fall prey to the lies of Rusesabagina’s family and their PR machine run by Ms.Kitty Kurthy, without checking facts on the welfare and medical treatment accessed by Rusasabagina. 

 

The truth is that he enjoys freshly prepared meals of his choice. Again, like all other prisoners, he has access to the best doctors in the country, and has not missed any medical appointments as claimed. This can easily be verified through the US embassy in Kigali. But I understand what you want to insinuate – that the best food and doctors are from the US. This is what the education system in your country has taught every American from a tender age. Shame!

 

The American Bar Association’s Center of Human Rights’ report you quoted, which concluded that, Rusesabagina’s right to presumption of innocence, and his right to prepare his defence were violated, “ potentially to the irreparable prejudice of the defense, calling into question the fairness of any potential convicting verdict, ” is not surprising. It is clear that you would only accept that Rusesabagina received a fair trial if he was represented by a lawyer from the American Bar Association, yet you know very well that there is no reciprocity for a Rwandan lawyer to be allowed to practice in US courts.

 

The US Congress, the State Department and the European Parliament’s resolutions only confirmed to us that African countries are still considered as colonial states that have to receive orders from their colonial masters. This is not only an insult to the independence of states but also a violation of international law under the UN Charter, based on the principle of sovereign equality of all its Members. There are no lesser states.

 

This brings to mind the time of exploration of the “dark continent” when your relatives from Europe stepped foot in Africa, and claimed to have discovered lakes, rivers and mountains, as if native Africans who lived there for centuries were blind. The US Congress resolution is reminiscent of the white man’s assumed supremacy, self-aggrandizement and neo-colonial mindset that give you false confidence and arrogant character to command sovereign states to act  according to your wish. Whether rich or poor, black or white, all countries must relate on the principle of equality and mutual respect.

 

 

Just to remind you, there are more serious issues in your own country that the Congress can first put in order than interfering in other countries’ internal affairs.

 

The US Congress should instead pass a resolution on the gun control law and prevent massacres of thousands of innocent Americans who are killed by uncontrolled gun ownership. According to statistics from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's (CDC), about 1.4 million people died from firearms in the U.S. between 1968 and 2011. In 2022, the total number of gun violence deaths as at July 21, stood at 24, 534, according to gunviolencearchive.org.

 

It would be more of a humanitarian act for the US Congress to focus on putting in place resolutions that will stop gun violence in US than being advocates of a non repentant convicted terror mastermind in Rwanda. The high level of racism too requires a resolution by the Congress that you represent. It is wiser to mind the log in your eye than a speck in another person’s eye. Shame!

 

Finally, let me remind you that families who lost their loved ones due to Rusesabagina’s FLN terror attacks are also crying out, on humanitarian grounds, to receive justice, although it will not resurrect their dead.  Millions of Rwandans consider the 25-year jail term given to Rusesabagina very lenient.

 

 Rusesabagina received a fair trial. And he is serving his sentence with all his rights observed, which Bin Laden was not allowed, much as the Guantamo Bay detainees can’t claim better living conditions than Rusesabagina.

 

Let Rwanda deal with its own Bin laden without external influence and coercion.

 

Sincerely;

 

Umuhoza Esperance

Concerned Rwandan citizen

 

 

CC:

President of the United States

US State Department

Democratic Party

Republican Party

European Parliament

US embassy Rwanda

Rwanda Embassy Washington