Western media, NGOs embraced Rusesabagina’s lies

Ever since the arrest, during trial and in the aftermath of the conviction, of Paul Rusesabagina who was found guilty of terrorism, the global north media in cahoots with some international rights organisations wholly embraced his big lie that he is an innocent man. They continued to peddle the lie that he is a victim of being Rwandan President Paul Kagame’s “fierce critic.”

In so doing, they fostered a biased narrative which had a clear purpose of demonising Rwanda’s leadership, and its judicial process, while whitewashing the terror kingpin of his ignominious crimes. For them, it is as if being a Hollywood ‘hero’, and having fooled people that Rusesabagina was a humanitarian who reportedly saved a thousand lives in a hotel in Kigali during the 1994 genocide against the Tutsi, can shelter him from the long arm of the law.

But pause and think again. Rusesabagina acquired fame in the fictitious Hollywood movie but he did not save anyone in real life, according to people who were at the Hotel he managed during the massacres 27 years ago. As for humanitarian actions through his Rusesabagina Hotel Rwanda Foundation (RHRF), this was a mirage. There is no record available attesting to his humanitarian actions inside or outside Rwanda. He cunningly used it as a scheme to fleece gullible Americans of their tax dollars.

What is bewildering is the way those media outlets and NGOs swallowed the lies of Rusesabagina’s stepdaughter, Carine Kanimba, without challenging their veracity. The Washington Post, more than other newspapers, excelled in manipulating public opinion in portraying Rusesabagina in a very good light and at the same time rehashing tired stereotypes about Kagame.

No single word about the victims

In “Prosecutors to Challenge ‘Hotel Rwanda’s hero’s 25-year sentence,” published on October 21, Amy Cheng wrote: “last month, a Rwandan court sentenced Paul Rusesabagina, whose heroism during the Rwandan genocide inspired the “Hotel Rwanda” movie, to 25 years in prison after he was found guilty of forming a terrorist group. Now, prosecutors who had sought a life sentence are appealing the judgment…Rusesabagina, a prominent critic of Rwanda’s authoritarian president, Paul Kagame, was sentenced after a months-long trial decried by supporters and international observers, including the American Bar Association, as procedurally flawed and politically motivated. He has maintained his innocence.”

The journalist, instead of highlighting the crimes Rusesabagina was found guilty of, focuses on his Hollywood heroics, and describes him as “a prominent critic” of “authoritarian President Paul Kagame.” No single word about the victims Rusesabagina’s terror activities. For Western media, these victims do not matter.

In addition, Cheng denigrates Rusesabagina’s trial citing the latter’s supporters and the American Bar Association, as if they are the yardstick for fairness.  Rusesabagina was never apprehended and tried because he is a critic of Kagame. He was pursued for his terrorist activities.

Groups like Human Rights Watch and Amnesty International are keen on delegitimising Rusesabagina’s arrest “as an enforced disappearance.” There is nothing illegal in enticing a criminal into a situation which makes his arrest easy. Western countries do it and have always done it and there has been no outcry.

Abdi Latif, in “From Hero of ‘Hotel Rwanda,’ to Dissident to 25 -Year Prison Sentence”, in The New York Times, uses the same script. He depicts Rusesabagina as a man “who was portrayed in the Oscar-nominated movie “Hotel Rwanda” and who was praised for sheltering more than 1,200 people in a hotel he managed.

Like other scribes of the global north media, Latif is veering from serious charges against Rusesabagina into the character assassination of Kagame.

Latif has no qualms misleading people that “many scholars and human rights advocates say that Mr. Rusesabagina, 67, was unjustly accused for the government’s political purposes.” It is as if the evidence linking Rusesabagina to a series of terrorist attacks by his armed outfit, the MRCD/FLN, in south-western Rwanda, in 2018, which claimed nine lives and destroyed a lot of property, should be disregarded because the terror mastermind – Rusesabagina – was once a hero and is now a critic of the government.

 The Economist also used the same tactics, lauding the terror kingpin, while maligning Kagame. In an op-ed titled  “How does Paul Kagame, Rwanda’s president, get away  with it?” published on September 27, it is as if it is the Rwandan President who is on trial, not Rusesabagina. It wrote: “a court in Rwanda found Paul Rusesabagina guilty of links to terrorist groups and sentenced him to 25 years in jail. His real crime, however, was to oppose President Paul Kagame.”

In the same vein, international broadcasters VOA Kirundi and Kinyarwanda, as well as BBC Kirundi-Kinyarwanda, continue to be the conduct of lies fomented by the terror convict’s daughter Carine Kanimba aimed at exculpating her father of his crimes. Since Rusesaabagina refused to lodge an appeal against his verdict, Kanimba has been trumpeting the same lies that he was kidnapped, detained in solitary confinement for months, and that he was denied basic rights like access to his personal lawyers. But this is false.

It is not surprising for the two radio stations to continue amplifying Kanimba, dubbed the Queen of Lies on social media, because they schemed with Rusesabagina and MRCD leadership to ensure cover up for their terrorist attacks on innocent Rwandans. There is evidence of exchanges between the editors of these radios and MRCD leaders, on WhatsApp, plotting how they could blame the terror attacks on the Rwandan government.

No matter how transparent the trial of Rusesabagina, which took place in   public and streamed live, was, the global north media and allied rights organisations will never give up on their iconic Hollywood ‘hero’.  Rusesabagina’s ‘heroic’ posture was created for a purpose. His behind the scenes makers are not stupid. But they have no just cause and this is where their evil scheme crumbles.

But Rwandan authorities will never surrender national sovereignty and the defence of its populations. The global north media can write what it wants, but facts will always be stubborn.