Paul Rusesabagina
Rwanda
[2007] THE GRINDING MACHINE: TERROR
AND GENOCIDE IN RWANDA keith harmon snow talks with Paul Rusesabagina, the
ordinary man who inspired the film Hotel Rwanda. In October of 1990, the
Rwandan Patriotic Army—the military wing of the Rwanda Patriotic Front—invaded
northern Rwanda from western Uganda. The RPA was created in Uganda, assisted by
Ugandan troops, and led by Paul Kagame. These were Tutsis in exile, refugees,
the Tutsi Diaspora, men like Paul Kagame
who was carried to safety as a three year-old—in 1959—on the back of his mother.
But the government of Rwanda called on its allies—French, Belgian and
Israeli-trained forces from Zaire—and stalled the invasion.
Kagame from the beginning as a war criminal. Why a war
criminal? Because, since Kagame came over from Uganda—on his way from Byumba and
Ruhengeri in the northeast—what he did was to kill innocent civilians, innocent
Hutu civilians. This has never been
qualified as a genocide, but it is one; until it is qualified as a genocide, me
I won’t call it a genocide, but it is supposed to be one...
...I will give you an example of Hutus and Tutsis who both have been
killed since 1994. You know about Kagame completely destroying the refugee camps
in Kibeho?
.....the RPF army destroyed refugee camps with helicopters while soldiers were
on the ground with machine guns killing everyone, each and every moving human
being trying to flee the camp. So, what can we call that? Is that a genocide?
Is that a crime against humanity? To me, that is a crime against humanity, which
includes genocide and war crimes.
He was the head of military intelligence in Uganda. Between 1986 and
1990: Kagame was the one condemning people to life or death in Uganda, the one
who was deciding people’s lives.