Paul Rusesabagina

Paul Rusesabagina
While receiving a US Presidential Medal of Freedom in 2005
Born	15 June 1954 (1954-06-15) Murama, Rwanda
Occupation	Humanitarian
Spouse	Tatiana Rusesabagina

Paul Rusesabagina (born 15 June 1954) is a Rwandan humanitarian who has been internationally honored for saving 1,268 refugees during the Rwandan Genocide. He was the assistant manager of the Sabena Hôtel des Mille Collines before he became the manager of the Hôtel des Diplomates, both in Kigali, Rwanda. During the 1994 Rwandan Genocide, Rusesabagina used his influence and connections as temporary manager of the 'Mille Collines' to shelter 1,268 Tutsis and moderate Hutus from being slaughtered by the Interahamwe militia.

Rusesabagina's efforts were the basis of the Academy Award nominated film Hotel Rwanda (2004). He currently lives in Brussels, Belgium with his wife, children, and two adopted nieces.

Birth and career

Rusesabagina was born in the Central-South region of Rwanda to a farming family. He wanted to be a pastor when he grew up, but currently is a lapsed Seventh-day Adventist. He had three children (Roger, Diane, Lys) with his wife Ester Rusesabagina. After he separated from her in 1981, he graduated from the Hotel Management program of Utalii College in Nairobi, Kenya, which included a trip to Switzerland.

When he returned from Switzerland, he was employed in the Hôtel des Mille Collines as assistant general manager from October 1984 until November 1992, at which time he was promoted to general manager of the company's Diplomate Hotel in Kigali. He met his current wife Tatiana in 1987 at a wedding party. Tatiana was a Tutsi suffering discrimination at her job as a nurse; Rusesabagina arranged for her to be moved closer to him for this reason, and to get to know her better.

Genocide

The Rwandan Genocide started on April 6, 1994 as the Hutu-led Interahamwe began to slaughter the Tutsi population. Rusesabagina was Hutu – his mother was a Tutsi and father was a Hutu. His wife Tiana was a Tutsi, and their children were considered mixed, so he could not escape the war zone with his family without outside help. However, no foreign aid came from the United Nations or its more powerful Western member states, the United States of America until after over 800,000 Rwandans had been murdered.

When the violence broke out, Rusesabagina brought his family to the Hôtel des Mille Collines for safety. As other managers departed, Rusesabagina phoned the hotel's corporate owners, Sabena, and secured a letter appointing him the acting general manager of the Mille Collines. Despite some difficulty in getting the staff to accept his authority, he was able to use his position to shelter orphans and other refugees who came to the hotel. His neighbours had moved into his house for safety, though Rusesabagina did not even own a gun. For protection against bullets and grenades they put mattresses against the windows. He described the hardships they faced, which included having to drink the water from the hotel's swimming pool.

When a murderous Hutu militia threatened to enter the Mille Collines, Rusesabagina ensured that his wife and children fled safely in a truck past the militia's roadblocks. The truck set out for Kigali airport so they could flee to another country. He himself remained in the hotel because the refugees needed him. Rusesabagina and his wife discussed this decision for hours, because he had promised her he would never leave her in this situation. Rusesabagina wanted to stay, fearing the remaining refugees would be killed and feeling that he would never be able to forgive himself.

Tatiana was a specific target for the brutal attack because she was the wife of the manager of the Mille Collines; the Hutu militia knew she and her children were in the truck owing to radio messages sent out by presenter Georges Ruggiu. Ruggiu was an Italian-Belgian who was part of the radio station conspiracy to incite ethnic tension and encourage the Hutu population to kill all the Tutsis. Ruggiu called Rusesabagina's family "cockroaches who were fleeing, but would return later to kill all the Hutus".

Tatiana's mother, and 4 nieces and nephews, died in the genocide. Her brother and sister-in-law are missing. Her father paid to be executed so he would not die a more painful death:

 We all knew we would die, no question. The only question was how. Would they chop us in pieces? With their machetes they would cut your left hand off. Then they would disappear and reappear a few hours later to cut off your right hand. A little later they would return for your left leg etc. They went on till you died. They wanted to make you suffer as long as possible. There was one alternative: you could pay soldiers so they would just shoot you. That's what her [Tatiana's] father did.

— Paul Rusesabagina in Humo, nr. 3365, March 1, 2005

The Interhamwe left nearly 1 million corpses behind. Tutsi rebels pushed the Hutus into the Congo in July 1994, after over half of the Tutsis in Rwanda had been murdered. Rusesabagina took orphans from the camp behind Tutsi rebel lines with him to Tanzania, to keep them safe and away from Rwanda.

Rusesabagina, his wife and children, and the refugees eventually managed to escape to Tanzania, thanks to the Rwandan Patriotic Front. After staying in Rwanda for two more years, Rusesabagina applied for asylum in Belgium and moved to Brussels in 1996 after receiving credible threats on his life.

Awards and honors

• In October 2005, Rusesabagina was awarded the Wallenberg Medal from the University of Michigan in recognition of his rescue and defense of Tutsi citizens who took refuge in the Milles Collines Hotel.

• Rusesabagina received the US Presidential Medal of Freedom on November 9, 2005 from President George W. Bush.

• On November 16, 2011 Rusesabagina received the 2011 Tom Lantos Human Rights Prize from The Lantos Foundation for Human Rights and Justice. Dr. Katrina Lantos Swett, President of Lantos Foundation commented on Paul receiving the award: "We are so proud to award this year’s Lantos Prize to Paul Rusesabagina. I was raised on the idea that we are all our brothers keepers', and Paul is the living embodiment of that idea. My father, Congressman Tom Lantos, survived the Holocaust in one of Raoul Wallenberg’s safehouses and understood all too well that the actions of one man can change the arc of one’s life story. Nearly 50 years later, Paul Rusesabagina’s heroic efforts to shelter those in harm’s way changed the life stories of more than 1,200 Rwandans. We look forward to honoring his historic humanitarian actions.”

Media

Books

His story was first told in Phillip Gourevitch's book "We Wish to Inform You That Tomorrow We Will Be Killed with Our Families," which was published in 1998.

Autobiography

His autobiography entitled An Ordinary Man (written with Tom Zoellner ISBN 0-670-03752-4) was published by Zach Bell in April 2006.

Film

Paul's work is dramatized in the 2004 movie Hotel Rwanda in which he is played by Don Cheadle. There are few differences with the actual story.

• Tatiana Rusesabagina was not in fact angry about Paul putting her and her children on a truck to escape the Hôtel des Mille Collines but was instead sad about the decision—which she nevertheless accepted due to the circumstances. Paul did not make his decision at the last moment, but rather he discussed the matter with Tatiana and the children the night before they attempted the evacuation.

• Paul and his family did leave Rwanda two years after they escaped the Hôtel des Mille Collines.

• Paul Rusesabagina said in a lecture that the film was "less violent" than the actual genocide, claiming that "you couldn't invite someone to watch the real thing."

Feud with Paul Kagame

Rusesabagina and Rwandan president and former head of the Rwandan Patriotic Front (RPF) Paul Kagame have become public enemies of each other. In his autobiography, Rusesabagina alleges "Rwanda is today a nation governed by and for the benefit of a small group of elite Tutsis...Those few Hutus who have been elevated to high-ranking posts are usually empty suits without any real authority of their own. They are known locally as Hutus de service or Hutus for hire." He has also criticized Kagame's election to president.

On April 6, 2006, Kagame suggested, "[Rusesabagina] should try his talents elsewhere and not climb on the falsehood of being a hero, because it's totally false." Francois Xavier Ngarambe, the president of Ibuka, the umbrella body of genocide survivors' associations, said of Rusesabagina, "he has hijacked heroism. He is trading with the genocide. He should be charged." In December, 2006, Rusesabagina sent a letter to Queen Elizabeth II, calling Kagame a war criminal.

In 2008, the book Hotel Rwanda or the Tutsi Genocide as seen by Hollywood, by Alfred Ndahiro, a public relations advisor to Kagame and journalist Privat Rutazibwa, was published. It provides an alternative take to the portrayal of Rusesabagina's actions as seen in Hotel Rwanda. Rusesabagina issued a response to the charges of the book, which in turn was responded to.

Rusesabagina has consistently denied allegations put forward by the Rwandan government accusing Rusesabagina of helping the Democratic Forces for the Liberation of Rwanda, a Rwandan rebel group. In a 2010 interview with CNN Rusesabagina said :"I have sent no money to terrorists ... He [the prosecutor] is not only lying, but lying with bad logic.....This is pure and simple fabrication from Kigali."

Timeline

• 1954 – June 15: Paul Rusesabagina's birth
• 1976 – September: Marries Ester, the daughter of Reverend Sembeba
• 1981 – Divorces Ester
• 1984 – Begins work at the Mille Collines Hotel in October
• 1989 – Marries Tatiana
• 1992 – Begins work at the Diplomate Hotel in November
• 1994 – Massacre begins on April 6
• 1994 – Returns to work at Mille Collines Hotel in July
• 1996 – Emigrates to Belgium with family in September
• 2000 – Receives Immortal Chaplains Prize for Humanity.
• 2005 – Receives Wallenberg Medal of the University of Michigan
• 2005 – Receives National Civil Rights Museum Freedom Award
• 2005 – Receives Presidential Medal of Freedom
• 2007 – Receives Honorary Doctorate of Law from the University of Guelph
• 2008 – Receives Honorary Degree from Gustavus Adolphus College [3]
• 2009 – Receives Honorary Degree from Loyola University Chicago, at the Bachelor of Arts Commencement
• 2011 - Receives the 2011 Tom Lantos Human Rights Prize from The Lantos Foundation for Human Rights and Justice

Further reading

• Interview with Paul and Tatiana Rusesabagina in the Belgian magazine HUMO, nr. 3365, March 1, 2005.
• Hotel Rwanda: A Lesson Yet to be Learned – talk (part of the Presidential Events series) at Eckerd College on February 23, 2006.
• Rusesabagina on Gardens of the Righteous Worldwide – Gariwo
• Shake Hands With The Devil - Gen Romeo Dallaire (Canada)

External links

• Rusesabagina Foundation Website
• Lecture given at the University of Georgia by Paul Rusesabagina
• IGN FilmForce interview with Rusesabagina and Don Cheadle
• Official Hotel Rwanda website
• Netribution Interview
• Darfur: In Sudan, the world ignores Rwanda's lessons An Op-Ed by Mr Rusesabagina