Real-life Hotel Rwanda hero arrested on terror charges

Paul Rusesabagina gave shelter to more than 1,000 refugees during 1994 genocide

Mr Rusesabagina shortly after his arrest – it was not disclosed where he is being held (RIB)

The businessman whose heroic work during the Rwandan genocide was portrayed in Hollywood’s Hotel Rwanda has been arrested by the Rwandan government on terror charges.

Paul Rusesabagina was a hotel manager in Rwanda’s capital Kibali during the 1994 genocide in which more than 800,000 people were killed.

The 2004 film, starring Don Cheadle, told how Mr Rusesabagina gave shelter to more than 1,200 Tutsis and used his wealth and influence to secure their safety by persuading members of the Hutu elite to arrange their escape. Mr Rusesabagina was awarded by George W Bush the Presidential Medal of Freedom in the US in the year after the film’s release.

Mr Rusesabagina has been a critic of Paul Kagame, who led the Rwandan Patriotic Front to defeat government forces and end the genocide and has served as president of Rwanda ever since. According to critics, Mr Kagame has stifled independent media, particularly those critical of his government and has been accused of jailing dissenters.

The Rwanda Investigation Bureau (RIB) said in a statement on Monday that Mr Rusesabagina had been arrested and was being held in custody.

“Rusesabagina is suspected of being a founder or a leader or sponsor or member of violent armed extremist terror outfits ... operating out of various places in the region and abroad,” spokesperson Thierry Murangira said on Monday.

There was an international arrest warrant for Mr Rusesabagina to answer charges of serious crimes including terrorism, arson, kidnap and murder, perpetrated against unarmed, innocent Rwandan civilians on Rwandan territory, police said.

Mr Rusesabagina left Rwanda after the genocide and had been living abroad in Belgium and in Texas in the US. Authorities did not say where he was arrested or name who was involved with the international effort to arrest him.

In 2010, Mr Rusesabagina was deemed an enemy of the state by the Kagame government. The following year he was accused of funding subversion in Rwanda, but no charges were brought.

He has more recently been accused of playing a role in a string of alleged attacks by rebels in southern Rwanda in 2018.

Mr Rusesabagina has previously denied the government’s charges that he financially supports Rwandan rebels.

Speaking to The Independent in 2010, Mr Rusesabagina said: “They are coming after me, while I’m in Brussels I remain in danger, they’re following my every step.”