US University, next victim of Rusesabagina’s fraudulent heroism

Author: Samson Kasujja

• 2024-05-30 05:30:00

Paul Rusesabagina on the right side of the photo.

Paul Rusesabagina, the Hollywood made hero, was awarded a honoris causa Doctorate by St Mary’s University in Texas, on May 11, for his alleged selfless devotion to protecting and promoting the dignity and humanity of all people.

The 70-year-old rose to fame as a ‘Hollywood hero’ due to the fictional film Hotel Rwanda premiered in 2004, portraying him as “a savior of some 1,200 people” during the 1994 Genocide against the Tutsi in Rwanda.

Rusesabagina attracted admiration and controversy in equal measure, as he has one image in Westerners’ minds and another in minds of fellow Rwandans who know his true colors.

As a hotel manager, Rusesabagina turned into a business master during the 1994 Genocide against the Tutsi. Instead of genuinely helping people whose lives faced sudden death, he saw a money making opportunity and he grabbed it.

He began with charging money for phone calls, eliminating the provision of food and water to the Tutsi who sought refuge at the hotel, and establishing a monetary charge for individuals seeking sanctuary inside Hôtel des Mille Collines.

In those very difficult times when the Tutsi were targeted for extermination, Rusesabagina threatened to throw out those who failed to pay.

Contrary to what really happened at Hôtel des Mille Collines, Rusesabagina fooled Westerners and they believed – as portrayed in the fiction movie Hotel Rwanda – that he saved more than 1,000 Tutsi in the hotel.

St. Mary’s University referred to Rusesabagina as “a remarkable individual whose life has been one of selfless devotion to protecting and promoting the dignity and humanity of all people”.

This statement is an insult to Genocide survivors and Rwandans in general, who are very sure of Rusesabagina’s paradoxical opportunism.

Apart from being credited as a savior in Western media while he was only doing business over the cost of the Tutsi’s lives, Rusesabagina founded and used a terror group, FLN, claiming that he aims at ‘liberating’ Rwandans. These terrorists plotted attacks in southwestern Rwanda which claimed innocent people’s lives between 2018 and 2019.

Rusesabagina confessed that he provided Euros 20,000 to the FLN.

How would Rusesabagina have “selfless devotion to protecting and promoting the dignity and humanity of all people” while killing them, burning public transport buses and looting people’s properties? 

Can St Mary’s University have a rational answer to this question?

Rusesabagina was convicted of terrorist crimes and sentenced to 25 years in jail. He was released on presidential clemency on March 25, 2023 after he promised to abandon his political shenanigans; a promise he never kept.

He is being used by Westerners to challenge the RPF-led Rwandan government. The Westerners plan is for ‘regime change’ in Kigali. Rusesabagina is their planned stooge in Kigali if the plan succeeds. Fortunately, Rwandans are not fooled.

Honoring Rusesabagina with Doctorate means supporting his narrative and alleged “human rights activism” of which intentions have only been sponsoring terror activities.

Rwandans know Rusesabagina as an opportunist, not “a hero”. He is an American “hero”, not a Rwandan one. If he really fits to be a leader anyhow, let him govern Americans who feel comfortable with supporting his terrorism.