‘Hotel Rwanda’ hero denies funding rebels

A man who was made famous by the film “Hotel Rwanda” in which he is credited with saving more than 1,200 Tutsis during the 1994 genocide, said that he fears for his life after the country’s authorities made him “an enemy of the state”.

Mr Paul Rusesabagina, a former hotel manager who currently lives in Brussels, is set to be charged in Rwanda with links to a terrorist group.

But Mr Rusesabagina, who in 2005 was awarded the US Presidential Medal of Freedom by former US President George W. Bush, insists he has done nothing wrong.

“It is the latest step in a campaign against me by the Rwandan government that has included public insults, lies and physical harassment,” he told the UK’s Daily Telegraph newspaper.

“My foundation is advocating for a truth, justice and reconciliation process to try to foster sustainable peace in Rwanda ... but anyone who opposes Kagame inside or outside the country is treated with this kind of harassment.”

Seeking to silence its critics

Rwanda’s chief prosecutor said this week that Mr Rusesabagina has been financing commanders in the FDLR, a rebel army in DR Congo made up of ethnic Hutus responsible for the 1994 genocide.

Mr Rusesabagina, who was portrayed by Don Cheadle in the acclaimed 2004 film, has denied sending any money to the militia and accused the government in Kigali of seeking to silence its critics.

“They are coming after me,” he told The Independent. “While I’m in Brussels I remain in danger, they’re following my every step.”

Mr Rusesabagina says he was nearly killed three years ago in a car crash he claims was an attempted assassination. His home in the Belgian capital has been ransacked three times.

The latest burglary was last week, during which, he says, a number of documents in Kinyarwandan — the language spoken primarily in Rwanda — were stolen.

Mr Rusesabagina has been one of the highest-profile critics of the government of Paul Kagame.