‘Hero’ of Rwanda genocide film arrested on terrorism charges

Henry Samuel

THE man depicted as a hero in a Hollywood movie for saving hundreds of people from Rwanda’s 1994 genocide has been arrested on terrorism charges.

As manager of a hotel in Kigali, Paul Rusesabagina used his connections to shelter 1,268 Tutsis and moderate Hutus from slaughter by Hutu extremists.

His story of bravery was the subject of the 2004 Oscar-nominated film Hotel Rwanda, in which he was played by Don Cheadle, the US actor. President George W Bush also awarded him America’s highest civilian award, the Presidential Medal of Freedom.

However, Rwandan police yesterday paraded Mr Rusesabagina, 66, a fierce critic of President Paul Kagame, in handcuffs. They said he faced charges including “terrorism, financing terrorism, arson, kidnap and murder”.

Mr Rusesabagina has accused the government of Mr Kagame – in power since his forces overthrew the genocidal regime – of killing opposition figures and detaining and torturing activists. It is unclear why he was in Rwanda or how he was arrested.

Authorities had already claimed he had a role in a string of alleged attacks by National Liberation Front rebels in southern Rwanda in 2018.

Mr Rusesabagina, whose father was Hutu but mother and wife were Tutsi, had denied claims by the Kagame regime and some survivors that he inflated his role in rescuing Tutsis and exploited the genocide for personal gain.

About 800,000 Tutsis and moderate Hutus were butchered in 100 days in the central African nation in 1994. Soldiers of the then Hutu-led government and ethnic militia allies orchestrated the genocide in which victims were hacked to death with machetes, burned alive or shot.

The killings ended when Tutsi rebels, led by Mr Kagame, seized control and triggered an exodus of more than two million Hutus.