Consider This from NPR - The man who inspired 'Hotel Rwanda' is still taking risks for his country

Episode Date: April 16, 2024

In 1994, the world watched as genocide unfolded in Rwanda. Nearly one million people died as neighbors brutally killed their neighbors. Paul Rusesabagina is credited for keeping more than 1,200 people safe in his hotel through weeks of violence. His life and story inspired the 2004 film Hotel Rwanda. In 2021, Rusesabagina says he was kidnapped, tried and imprisoned in Rwanda for two years and seven months over his ties to the Rwanda Movement for Democratic Change (MRCD), a group that opposes President Paul Kagame's rule. After intervention from the U.S. and other countries, Rusesabagina was eventually released from prison. At the time he was released, he says he electronically signed a letter promising not to criticize the government. Ultimately, he decided to disregard that promise.Many allies of President Kagame would argue that he has been responsible for shepherding an era of what they say is relative peace in the country. His critics say he leads an oppressive government that leaves no space for dissent. We hear from Paul Rusesabagina and his daughter Anaïse Kanimba, who are still speaking out against the Rwandan government.For sponsor-free episodes of Consider This, sign up for Consider This+ via Apple Podcasts or at plus.npr.org.Email us at [e-mail] more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoicesNPR Privacy Policy

From April to July 1994, the world watched as genocide unfolded in Rwanda. A million people died as neighbors brutally attacked their neighbors with clubs and machetes. Thirty years later, the horror of the Rwandan genocide endures, but so does the humanity and bravery of Paul Rusesabagina. Well, that is a very long story. A story that was captured in the 2004 movie Hotel Rwanda, starring Don Cheadle. Welcome to the Mikulin. I am Paul Rusesabagina, the house manager. The real Paul Rusesabagina recounted some of the details

when he talked to me recently from his home in San Antonio. I happened to be a hotelier in 1994, and I had 1,268 people who happened to come to my head into my hotel, who took them to the streets, and none of them was killed, none of them was beaten in the hotel from the beginning to the end. From beginning to end, Rusesabagina is credited with keeping those 1,200-plus people safe through weeks of violence. After the movie Hotel Rwanda, I became a kind of famous. Consider this. Paul Rusesabagina was regarded as a hero for his actions during the Rwandan genocide. Three decades later, Rusesabagina's place in his country has changed drastically. From NPR, Paul Rusesabagina has not lived in Rwanda since 1996,

but he still cares about his country and has spoken out about the government there. I became an enemy. That experience was just like finding oneself in the hell where you are tortured. Rusesabagina says he was kidnapped, tried, and imprisoned in Rwanda for two years and seven months. He was able to talk to his family once a week for five minutes. They would talk to me, but they would talk in proverbs. We knew that these phone calls were being listened to. That's Rusesabagina's daughter, Anais Kanemba. He and his wife adopted her after her parents were believed to be killed in the genocide. So we had to speak in proverbs and in a way that he could try to understand. After intervention from

the U.S. and other countries, Rusesabagina was eventually released. At the time, he says he electronically signed a letter promising not to criticize the government. Once you are in hell, what can you sign? You can sign anything. The reasons why he's decided to disregard that promise were a focus of my conversation with Rusesabagina and his daughter Anais Kanemba, and it began with a plea from his fellow prisoners. They told me that, listen, Mr. Sabagina, you have been speaking for us. You have been the voice for the voiceless. Now you have seen how we have suffered, how we are being tortured. Now you are going out. Please be our voice.

So I cannot shut up since I have a mission. I do have to ask for both of you, though. At this point, given what your family has been through, Paul, given what you personally went through, how safe do you feel today speaking out openly about the Rwandan government, including President Kagame himself? What I'm going to tell you is what I was telling all those directorate of military intelligence guys who would be torturing me. The only thing I'm sure of is that one day I will die. But when is it supposed to happen? Who is supposed to do it? Those are the things I do not know. But I believe that it will never happen a day, a minute, a second before the time determined by the Almighty God.

And if I may add, I think, yes, it is very risky to speak up about what's happening in Rwanda because Rwanda practices transnational repression. When my sister and I and our family were advocating for our dad, my sister ended up having Pegasus on her phone. And this was researched through the Amnesty International team and other reporters. And I think it's a call to action for the international community not to let that happen, to protect those who are speaking for others, those who are defending democracy and human rights.

If you speak to allies of President Kagame, many of them would argue that he has been responsible for shepherding an era of what they say is relative peace in the country, of what they say is improvement, of economic advancement. How do you square those two things? I would tell you that today you have two Rwandans. You have the Rwanda for the elite, How do you square those two things? We were 18,500 people. People would eat just corn and beans and one meal, which was just supplied every day at 11 a.m. Is that development? No. Yes, some of Rwanda's allies, and specifically President Kagame's allies in the West do talk about the development of the country. But that is at the cost of the freedom of the people of Rwanda.

If people cannot speak freely, all this work cannot be sustainable. And I would also call these allies of Paul Kagame not to undermine the ability of Rwandans to be able to choose their own rulers and still live in safety. And, you know, we shouldn't believe that we need to have somebody like Kagame in order to be safe. And I think they're taking away the agency of the Rwandan people to make that choice for them. Recognizing that you both are, of course, outside the country of Rwanda, do either of you see signs that the country is poised for change anytime soon? I believe, yes, the country is poised to change because the country is made by very active Rwandans who want to see a developed country, who want to bring the best to their countries, who are working hard every single day.

Our country can be better and our people are there and they're suffering today under the dictatorship or the authoritarian regime of Paul Kagame. But that doesn't mean that they cannot take ownership of their country and move it forward without this kind of leadership. And so I think, yeah, it's possible. And I hope that I can go to Rwanda very soon and not fear that if I'm walking in the streets of Kigali, I can be put in jail. That is my dream and my dream to go back to this country where I was born. But today I cannot. And so I would love to be able to do that in the future and be able to tell you my perspective from inside Rwanda, but that's not possible. And I believe that my brothers and sisters who are in Rwanda, my compatriots, will find a way to let everybody else outside come back one day?

Well, I will tell you that Rwanda today is more or less a boiling volcano which can erupt any time. Rwanda has got millions of people outside that country. That million or those millions of people are also willing to go back to their own homeland. And they can't. In Rwanda, you've got some people, many people who have been silenced. And others who are silencing them. So Rwanda is rather a boiling volcano which might erupt any time. Paul Rusesabagina and Anais Kanemba, thanks to both of you.

Thank you. Thank you very much, Juana. After our interview, we reached out to the Rwandan government for comment. Yolande McCullough, the government spokesperson, sent along this statement, which I'm reading in its entirety. Rusesabagina lies consistently. He was never tortured. Everyone in Rwanda can say what they want, as long as it doesn't break the laws that govern all of us and that keep Rwandans safe. This episode was produced by Elena Burnett and Brianna Scott. It was edited by Tenbeat Armias and Courtney Dorney. Our executive producer is Sammy Yannigan. It's Consider This from NPR. I'm Juana Summers.