[Global: Op-Ed]
It has been a while since I have had a chance to write to you.
My foundation has been very busy. Next week I will send you a progress report on everything that we have been doing, but there is something on my mind that could not wait until then.
I read an article about Bill Clinton speaking to CNBC’s Tania Bryer, which said: “Clinton explained that the failure of his administration to act during the genocide, which claimed the lives of around a million Rwandans, was one of the reasons behind the establishment of the Clinton Foundation.”
’If we’d gone in sooner, I believe we could have saved at least a third of the lives that were lost…it had an enduring impact on me.’ While Clinton added that the U.S. didn’t have the same presence in Africa in 1994 that it does now, if he had sent around 10,000 troops into the country thousands of lives could have been spared.”
This quote from President Clinton deeply affected me. During the 1994 Genocide I tried by every means to reach the outside world and to ask them to help rescue my countrymen from the hell that we were experiencing. I could not get any one to listen then.
I especially tried to make President Clinton and his staff at the White House hear our calls for help. I called and faxed and wrote on behalf of all Rwandans asking President Clinton to help stop the Genocide.
Today, I will write to him again as I have before. Again, I will ask him to meet with me to talk about how we can work together to lead the way to a sustainable peace for Rwanda and the Great Lakes region of Africa. I will ask him to help stop the killing that Rwandan supported militias are perpetrating every day. I will ask him to make this newest Congo Peace treaty a real Peace treaty.
I hope this time he will listen. I will do this, but I need your help. My Foundation is small but our voice is big. We can not do this alone.
We need your help as we continue trying to convince the world that they can help to create an internationally sanctioned Truth and Reconciliation Commission and foster real sustainable peace for the region.
Peace, truth and justice.
Rusesabagina heads the Hotel Rwanda Rusesabagina Foundation (HRRF). The movie “Hotel Rwanda” was based on his true life experience.
