Rwandan hero who saved 1,200 lives agrees to visit

By Eoin English

Thursday, August 06, 2009

THE man who saved more than 1,200 people during one of the world’s worst genocides will visit Ireland for the first time next month.

Paul Rusesabagina, 55, was working in the hotel industry in Rwanda during the 1994 Rwandan genocide.

He was the assistant manager of the Sabena Hôtel des Mille Collines before he became the manager of the Hôtel des Diplomates, in Kigali.

During the genocide, he used his influence and connections as temporary manager of the Mille Collines to shelter and feed 1,268 Tutsis and moderate Hutus from being slaughtered by a force of marauding militia. Up to 80,000 were killed in the slaughter.

His efforts inspired the Academy Award-nominated movie, Hotel Rwanda, released in 2004, in which he was played by Don Cheadle.

Mr Rusesabagina will arrive in Ireland in early September following an invite by members of the Kinsale Peace Project.

"We are delighted Mr Rusesabagina agreed to accept our invitation in this, the 15th anniversary year of the genocide," peace project member Padraig Fitzgerald said.

Mr Rusesabagina will arrive in Ireland on September 2 and will visit Dublin, where he will meet politicians, before visiting Belfast to meet peace groups from across the community.

Then he will return to Kinsale where he will talk about his life and his charity which cares for Rwandan orphans, at a free lecture at the Friary Centre at Kinsale’s Carmelite College at 8pm on September 2.

Mr Fitzgerald and fellow peace project member Gerard Timmons will then bring him to visit Summercove National School and Kinsale Community School the following day where he will talk to schoolchildren.

Mr Rusesabagina has been internationally honoured for saving a total of 1,268 lives during the genocide.

He was awarded a Presidential Medal of Freedom by the former president of the United States, George W Bush in 2005. It is one of the highest civilian awards in the US.

Mr Rusesabagina lives in Belgium with his wife, children, and two adopted nieces.

This story appeared in the printed version of the Irish Examiner Thursday, August 06, 2009