After staying in Rwanda for two more years after the genocide, Rusesabagina applied for asylum in
Belgium and moved to
Brussels with his wife, children, and two nieces in 1996, fearing for his life. There he worked as a
taxi driver. They later settled in
San Antonio,
Texas.
Hotel Rwanda In 1999, Rusesabagina received a phone call from an American
screenwriter named
Keir Pearson. Pearson, along with his colleague
Terry George, went on to write the script for
Hotel Rwanda in consultation with Rusesabagina. The script was made into a Hollywood film, starring
Don Cheadle as Rusesabagina. The film was released in 2004 to much critical acclaim. It received three
Academy Award nominations, including for
Best Original Screenplay and
Best Actor for
Don Cheadle's portrayal of Rusesabagina.
Criticism 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. The authors conducted interviews with 74 people who had stayed in the Hotel during the genocide. Their accounts provide an alternative take to the portrayal of Rusesabagina's actions as seen in the film
Hotel Rwanda: Many of the survivors criticise Rusesabagina in their interviews. This was followed by the 2011 publication of
Inside the Hotel Rwanda: The Surprising True Story ... And Why it Matters Today, co-written by Hotel des Mille Collines Survivor Edouard Kayihura and American writer Kerry Zukus. Both books are critical of Rusesabagina, alleging that he forced refugees to pay for their rooms and all of the food which was given to them, he cut off communication lines to the hotel which were located outside his own office, he was a prominent member of
Hutu Power politics, and he handed a list of refugees over to
Interahamwe forces and broadcasters at the
RTLM, among other things. UN Peacekeepers who were present at the Hotel des Mille Collines during the genocide have also been critical of the film. At a conference in 2014,
General Romeo Dallaire, who led the
UNAMIR mission, said that the film was "not worth looking at."
Speaking career After the success of
Hotel Rwanda, Rusesabagina acquired global fame. He used this to embark on a career as a public speaker – listed for bookings by both the American Programme Bureau in the United States and the London Speaker Bureau. Rusesabagina's speaking engagements ranged from schools and universities to churches and businesses, in his own words: "whoever wants to invite me, invites me and I talk about my experiences of 1994".
Politics Founding of The Party for Democracy in Rwanda In June 2006, in
Washington D.C., he founded a political party in exile: The Party for Democracy in Rwanda:
PDR-Ihumure. The party's general ideology is somewhat unclear, but as Rusesabagina described in a 2012 speech, its policy is broadly oriented towards the "political struggle to liberate Rwanda from the current
RPF dictatorship". In January 2016, Rusesabagina announced his intent to run for
President of Rwanda.
Criticism of RPF & President Kagame Rusesabagina has been critical of Rwandan President Paul Kagame, denouncing him as a dictator and accusing him of extrajudicial killings. He also claimed that the RPF shot down
Juvénal Habyarimana's plane, a theory ruled out by a ballistics report, and that the killings committed by the RPF rebels during the conflict constituted genocide. The historian
Gérard Prunier agrees that the RPF committed "horrendous crimes", but he rejects the notion of a "double genocide", which he argues "does not stand up to serious inquiry". In a 2012 speech, Rusesabagina expressed a disillusionment with the RPF, casting doubt on its ability to institute a democratic process and calling for general mobilization to remove the RPF from power. In an open letter to
President Bill Clinton in 2012, Rusesabagina warned against the
Clinton Foundation's support for Kagame. In this letter, he made claims that Rwandan nurses were being ordered to kill by the government. He said that one nurse was "ordered to give tainted vaccines to prisoners, Hutus and other enemies of the Kagame administration" and to "control population growth among undesirable populations by causing birth and surgical complications". Francois Xavier Ngarambe, the president of
Ibuka, the umbrella body of survivors' associations for the genocide, said of Rusesabagina, "he has hijacked heroism. He is trading with the genocide. He should be charged."
Terry George, the director of
Hotel Rwanda, characterized the comment as part of a smear campaign. The Rwandan government has accused Rusesabagina of genocide denial. Various media outlets in Rwanda, including
The New Times, have accused him of genocide denial.
FDLR Rusesabagina has consistently denied allegations put forward by the Rwandan government accusing Rusesabagina of helping the
Democratic Forces for the Liberation of Rwanda (FDLR), a Rwandan
Hutu Power rebel group, which has been condemned by the
UN Security Council for "serious violations of
international law involving the targeting of women and children". In an open letter to the UN, he equated the FDLR to the RPF, and cast them as "bona fide refugees" who had been "collectively demonized". 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". Text messages intercepted by
German intelligence, between Rusesabagina and the FDLR's former leader,
Ignace Murwanashyaka, came to light during Murwanashyaka's trial in 2011. He has denied any wrongdoing. Rusesabagina has admitted to backing and "diplomatically" supporting the group, as evidenced in a widely disseminated video in which he pledges his "unreserved support" for the FLN and denies any wrongdoing. In the video, Rusesabagina's speech includes: "The time has come for us to use any means possible to bring about change in Rwanda, as all political means have been tried and failed. It is time to attempt our last resort. Hence, I plead my unreserved support that our youth, The National Liberation forces, NLF, launches against the Kagame army in order to free the Rwandan people. As Rwandans it is important to understand that this is the only way to bring about change in the whole country." == Kidnapping, arrest, and trial ==