What really happened in Hotel Rwanda?

Don Cheadle in the movie Hotel Rwanda, where he acted as Paul
Rusesabagina. A new book disputes the content of the movie, saying it
gives Rusesabagina credit he doesn't deserve. Photo/FILE
By GILBERT MWIJUKE
Posted Friday, June 13 2014 at 16:48
During the 1994 Genocide against the Tutsi, Paul Rusesabagina, a Hutu,
single-handedly saved over 1,200 Tutsis and moderate Hutus from
slaughter by hiding them in the Hotel des Mille Collines, which he
managed.
As the violence escalated, the United Nations withdrew most of its
peacekeeping troops, leaving about 300 soldiers behind. Foreign
governments also evacuated their citizens who were guests at the Hotel
des Mille Collines. But Mr Rusesabagina, through his bravery, courage
and connections, managed to save not only himself, but also over 1,200
innocent Rwandans.
This is the heartrending story in the famous 2004 Oscar
Award-nominated Hollywood movie, Hotel Rwanda, the account of one
man's larger-than-life humanitarian actions when the tide of death
swept through Rwanda 20 years ago and left an estimated one million
Rwandans dead.
Hollywood star Don Cheadle went on to earn an Oscar Award nomination
for his brilliant portrayal of Mr Rusesabagina, and the latter went on
to earn his place in history.
Mr Rusesabagina has since collected several accolades – the University
of Michigan's Wallenberg Medal (awarded to outstanding people who act
on behalf of the defenceless and oppressed) and former US president
George W. Bush gave him the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the United
States's highest civilian award.
The movie launched Mr Rusesabagina as an important public speaker in
the US and across the world. Today, he speaks at colleges and churches
for upward of $15,000 per speech.
But a new book, Inside the Hotel Rwanda, The Surprising True Story...
And Why it Matters Today, by a Hotel des Mille Collines survivor,
Edouard Kayihura, and journalist Kerry Zukus, terms Rusesabagina a
"fraud."
They write that Mr Rusesabagina "did not single-handedly prevent the
slaughter of more than 1,200 refugees at the Hotel des Mille
Collines."
According to the book, when Mr Kayihura first watched Hotel Rwanda, he
was "filled with several, conflicting emotions" but he was glad the
movie had been made. He wanted "to let the world know where the film
had gone wrong."
Hotel Rwanda portrays Mr Rusesabagina as the man who personally got
nearly everyone into the hotel, and also the one who — personally —
kept all of them alive. For instance, in the movie, Rusesabagina is
told by an army officer to evacuate everyone in the hotel within 30
minutes but he is seen heroically getting the threat lifted.
The authors quote Maj Brent Beardsley — a UN peacekeeping soldier who
witnessed the genocide — as saying: "Gen Dallaire's threats to Gen
Bizimungu ensured that Bizimungu protected the hotel with his troops
and did not risk a massacre... I have no knowledge of Paul
Rusesabagina's role and how it worked with the general's actions."
This corroborates British journalist Linda Melvern's version in her
book, The Role of the West in Rwanda's Genocide. Melvern stated that
it was the Tunisian UN peacekeepers who kept the would-be attackers of
the hotel at bay.
Even Philip Gourevitch, author of We Wish to Inform You That Tomorrow
We Will Be Killed With Our Families, the 1998 book from which the
makers of Hotel Rwanda extracted Mr Rusesabagina, doubts the hotel
manager's heroism.
Mr Gourevitch told Kerry Zukus: "...he (Rusesabagina), never gave me
the impression he was claiming to be some singular hero... in stark
contrast to how most of what he says today is 'I, I, I.'"
About Mr Rusesabagina saving those who sought refuge at the Hotel des
Mille Collines, Mr Gourevitch said: "He hadn't saved them, and he
couldn't have saved them – not ultimately."
Inside the Hotel Rwanda is a story about a group of terrified refugees
sharing horrific days in the Hotel des Mille Collines.
Mr Kayihura remembers that there were many people who took care of
other refugees inside the hotel, while some kindly Hutus who were not
staying in the hotel brought in food from the outside to family and
friends who were trapped inside the hotel.
Kayihura mentions Lit-Gen Romeo Dallaire — Force Commander of the
United Nations peacekeeping force for Rwanda between 1993 and 1994 —
whose dwindled troops worked day and night to prevent the Interahamwe
militia from attacking the Hotel des Mille Collines.
Mr Kayihura's version of the role of the hotel manager is supported by
the recollections of some of his fellow Hotel des Mille Collines
survivors. Serge Rusagara was nothing more than a high school boy when
he sought refuge at the hotel.
His story: "...When we arrived at the hotel gate, we walked towards
the front desk, only to find that the hotel did not want to let us in
because we did not have any money." Luckily, a Mutarikanwa, their
father's friend, paid for them.
Odette Nyiramilimo is yet another Hotel des Mille Collines survivor.
She told Mr Kayihura while in the hotel, "Rusesabagina is a friend of
ours (family). He kept calling our house every day... He suggested
that Karamira should pick us up. (Froduald Karamira was vice-president
of the former ruling party MRND. He was sentenced to death by Kayihura
— who was then deputy prosecutor in Kigali — for genocide crimes.)
"We told Paul that we were afraid if he sent Karamira he would kill
us... So, Paul sent a soldier named Francois Nzaramba."
Inside the Hotel Rwanda: The Surprising True Story...and Why it
Matters Today is an essential read for anyone interested in
understanding what really happened inside "Hotel Rwanda" 20 years ago.
http://www.google.ca/gwt/x?gl=CA&hl=en-CA&u=http://www.theeastafrican.co.ke/magazine/What-really-happened-in-Hotel-Rwanda/-/434746/2346102/-/7xsikp/-/index.html&source=s&q=What+really+happened+in+Hotel+Rwanda%3F+The+East+African&sa=X&ei=9GqcU-O7C82ryASxjYLgCw&ved=0CB8QFjAA
--
SIBOMANA Jean Bosco
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