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Thursday, March 28, 2024
The independent student publication of The University at Buffalo, since 1950

"Truth, deception, and heroism"

The 2004 film Hotel Rwanda was nominated for three Academy Awards, and continues to be widely rented. The American Film Institute has named it one of the 100 most inspirational movies of all time.
Yet fifteen years after the Rwandan genocide, details of the event are still causing controversy.
Dispute has arisen concerning the validity Hotel Rwanda and the credibility of its title character, hotel manager Paul Rusesabagina.
In most public appearances, Rusesabagina prefers to be introduced as a man who 'single-handedly prevented the slaughter of more than 1,200 refugees' during the Tutsi genocide in 1994 at the Milles-Collines Hotel.
Edouard Kayihura, a native Rwandan, survivor of the genocide and resident of the hotel, sees things differently.
'I was in the hotel. Mr. Rusesabagina did not save my life. Mr. Rusesabagina saved less lives than anyone who was in the hotel,' Kayihura said.
United Nations General Romeo Dallaire also met Rusesabagina during the genocide.
'Indications are that the hotel manager [Rusesabagina] did everything in his power to have U.N. soldiers removed from the hotel. I also received unconfirmed reports that [Rusesabagina] had given General Bizimungu [a chief architect of the genocide] a list of hotel guests and room numbers,' Dallaire said.
Fortunately, the U.N. altered the room numbers of those who were in the most danger.
Another army member, General Dallaire, also had no knowledge of the film's existence until after it was released. Yet, there was a character in the film that was based on him, played by Nick Nolte.
Within the walls of this 'Hotel Rwanda,' other travesties are said to have occurred.
'[Paul Rusesabagina] cut phone lines … forced us to pay for rooms and food, and those who had no money to pay were removed from their rooms. That money either went straight into his pocket or else was used to buy high-end liquors, which he then tried to sell back to us for even more money,' Kayihura said.
The film Hotel Rwanda, starring Don Cheadle and Sophie Okenedo, depicts Paul Rusesabagina as a politically connected but neutral Rwandan who defied the Hutu authorities and fearlessly provided shelter to Tutsi refugees without considering the consequences.
'Rusesabagina was [not only] both politically active in Rwanda, but a member of the Democratic Republican Movement, the ‘Hutu Power' party that carried out the genocide … given his proximity to these radicals, it is reasonable to conclude that he knew more about the events to come than the movie would suggest,' Kayihura said.
In the years since the genocide, Rusesabagina has established an international reputation as a figure of peace and inspiration for the oppressed. He is frequently requested to make paid appearances in the United States and abroad.
However, to Kayihura and other survivors of the genocide who have kept track of Rusesabagina's career, facts both past and present are still being overlooked.
'I want to throw up because he's using [the movie] to forward his own political agenda,' Kayihura said. '[Since 1994], Rusesabagina has used his platform to champion and reinvigorate those same ethically divisive Hutu Power politics, raising money for causes that have less to do with helping survivors than revenge … most flagrant is his attempt to paint the murders committed by the Hutu Power extremists as simply a byproduct of civil war and not genocide.'
However, Kayihura expresses good sentiments about the movie's creation, regardless of the future of Rusesabagina's career and historical legacy. Nevertheless, Kayihura still feels that people should know his story.
'I am happy the movie was made because it bought awareness to what happened, but [Rusesabagina] has used it to run his own political career. No one who was [at the hotel] can say he was a hero,' he said.
Kayihura promises that he will continue to spread his story and make sure that 'people know the truth.'

E-mail: features@ubspectrum.com


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