Full Support for Paul Rusesabagina, the 2011 Honoree for the Lantos Human Rights Award

PARTY FOR DEMOCRACY IN RWANDA ( PDR-Ihumure)

PRESS RELEASE

The PDR-Ihumure was delighted to learn through a media release of the Lantos Foundation on October 6, 2011 that Rwandan humanitarian, Paul Rusesabagina, was the honoree for the 2011 Lantos Human Rights Award, and would like to make the following remarks:

1. The PDR-Ihumure is deeply grateful to the Lantos Foundation for its noble mission of fighting for the respect of the values of decency, dignity, freedom and justice for all human beings in all corners of the earth.

2. The PDR-Ihumure takes this opportunity to congratulate Paul Rusesabagina for his 2011 Lantos Human Rights Award, which is a vibrant recognition of his heroic and exemplary action during the 1994 Rwandan genocide, when many were those who preferred inaction for fear of their own security. Paul Rusesabaginaʼs humanitarian mission, which started in the midst of chaos in 1994 by standing up against evil, has taken on today the proportions of a real crusade against tyranny and injustice, which seriously threaten not only the short-term and long-term peaceful co-existence of the three ethnic groups of Rwanda, but also the overall peace and stability of the entire Great Lakes region of Africa.

3. The PDR-Ihumure fully supports and encourages the Lantos Foundation in its determination to honor and objectively draw attention to heroes who dedicate themselves to the defense of human rights and justice.

4. The PDR-Ihumure calls on all Rwandans and friends of Rwanda to recognize objectively and salute the action of anyone, whoever that may be, who has tried or tries to save human life under extremely difficult and risky conditions.

5. The PDR-Ihumure condemns unreservedly all those who purposely indulge in making false and defamatory declarations to distract the public from the truth of Rwandan history facts in order to mislead it with a hopeless political agenda.

6. The PDR-Ihumure finds it troubling that certain Rwandan media funded by President Kagame have been actively involved in sullying the image of Paul Rusesabagina, in what is clearly a desperate tactic on the part of a regime grappling for survival with intractable problems of its own making.

7. It is now widely accredited that President Kagame and his inner circle are responsible for the terrorist attack that killed President Habyarimana of Rwanda and President Cyprien Ntaryamira of Burundi on April 6, 1994, as well as members of their respective delegations and the French crew, triggering the start of the Rwandan genocide. Their airplane was shot down as it prepared to land at Kigali airport on a return trip from a Peace Summit in Dar-es-Salaam, Tanzania. President Kagame should be brought to account for his actions in the Rwandan tragedy of 1994.

8. President Kagame and his army have been accused of crimes of war, crimes against humanity, and possibly crimes of genocide committed against thousands of Hutu refugees in Congo as well as more than 5 million Congolese civilians. These horrible crimes were fully documented in a UN Mapping report published on October 1, 2010, and the victimsʼ families are still waiting for justice to be served.

9. President Kagame killed Vice-President Kagwa Rwisereka of the opposition Green Party and journalist Jean-Léonard Rugambage last year, jailed opposition political leaders Bernard Ntaganda of the PS-Imberakuri party, Deogratias Mushayidi of the PDP-Imanzi party, and Victoire Ingabire of the FDU-Inkingi party, and many others. Political space in Rwanda has been completely closed down, and the systematic assassination inside and outside Rwanda, as well as harassment and imprisonment of journalists, politicians, and human rights activists are a daily occurrence. President Kagame stands today accused of assassinating French, Spanish and Canadian technical experts and volunteers in Rwanda, and French and Spanish International arrest warrants have been issued against him and high-ranking officers of the Rwandan Army.

10.The PDR-Ihumure finds it absolutely appalling that a President who faces such serious accusations of horrible crimes, can continue to demonize and destroy for political expediency the reputation of an honorable man, whose life-saving action during the Rwandan genocide under extremely difficult circumstances has received international acclaim and is now fully cemented in Rwandan history books, and whose on-going humanitarian activism is centered around building long-lasting peace, justice and reconciliation in Rwanda.

We call upon all citizens of the countries of the Great Lakes region of Africa, particularly Rwanda, to come together to defend their human rights and put up resistance to all kinds of on-going abuses and injustices. We also call upon the stalwart defenders of human rights and justice throughout the world such as Lantos Foundation, to continue being the powerful voice and the light that will give hope to millions and uplift them out of oppression.

Done in Washington, DC, on October 31, 2011

Jérôme Nayigiziki

General Secretary

PDR-Ihumure

E-mail: jnayigizik@aol.com; Tel: 956-337-7665