January 28th, 2009 | Permalink |

Today Hotel Rwanda humanitarian Paul Rusesabagina sent an open letter to President Barack Obama about the humanitarian catastrophe in the Democratic Republic of the Congo.  Rusesabagina asked President Obama to stave off the next chapter of the worsening situation in the Congo and to take action, in coordination with the international community, to save the lives of innocent people.

The letter, which is attached, addresses the history of violence in the Great Lakes Region of Africa and the need for international intervention to bring peace to the region now and to help create the conditions for a lasting peace.

Rusesabagina spoke of the long history of violence between Hutu and Tutsi peoples in Rwanda and the region. This includes the spillover of the violence during the 1994 Rwandan genocide in to Burundi and the Congo. The violence continues in the Congo to this day.  He also talked about the complicated nature of the situation in the Congo where long held ethnic rivalries exist in the midst of an international “goldrush” for minerals like coltan and cobalt which are used in cell phones as well as diamonds and other gems.

Three of the key points Rusesabagina made are:

•    Laurent Nkunda - The arrest of Laurent Nkunda is not a panacea for the violence. Rwanda’s President Kagame bankrolled and directed Nkunda in the past.  His arrest is a “chess move” on Kagame’s part to try to get back on good terms with his international donors.  Both Sweden and the Netherlands, two of the four biggest donors to the Rwandan government, pulled their funding after the release of the U.N. Security Council report on the Congo in December, 2008.

•    Innocents are being killed – The international community needs to intervene to prevent the lives of more innocents from being lost.  While the stated intention of the Rwanda and Congolese governments is to go after the rebel militias, thousands of innocent civilians are being slaughtered.

•    Need for an internationally monitored Truth and Reconciliation process – The African Great Lakes region needs an internationally instituted Truth and Reconciliation process for the people of the region, Hutu, Tutsi and others, to come to the table and create a dialogue to form the basis for a sustainable peace within the region. Rusesabagina called on President Obama to help lead the international community in the effort to create an internationally sanctioned Truth and Reconciliation Commission for Rwanda, Burundi, and the Congo.

New leadership in the United States provides new potential for dialogue on the international scene. Paul Rusesabagina and the Hotel Rwanda Rusesabagina Foundation hope that President Obama will use this opportunity to create breakthrough dialogue that could make possible real and lasting solutions in the long troubled Great Lakes Region of Africa.

See the full letter to President Obama here