Kagame's Rwanda accuses real-life Hotel Rwanda hero of terrorism

Rwandan President Paul Kagame's government has accused real-life Hotel Rwanda hero Paul Rusesabagina of violent conspiracy, along with arrested and indicted Rwandan presidential candidate Victoire Ingabire Umuhoza.

Rwandan President Paul Kagame has a Global Citizen Award from Bill Clinton, and an International Medal of P.E.A.C.E. from evangelical Pastor Rick Warren, the same award that Warren presented to George Bush in 2008. Bush, however, presented Paul Rusesabagina with a Presidential Medal of Freedom in 2005, and Rusesabagina may be the best known man of peace to emerge from the horrific 1994 violence that the world came to know as the Rwanda Genocide. Outlets like CNN continue to seek out Rusesabagina to speak to war and peace in the Great Lakes region of Africa, despite Kagame's accusations that he, like Ingabire, is guilty not only of violent conspiracy but, of "Double Genocide Theory," a speech crime unique to Rwanda, which means saying that Hutus as well as Tutsis were victims of ethnic violence and crimes against humanity in Rwanda in 1994. Rusesabagina's story of sheltering over 1200 refugees in the four-star Kigali hotel where he was the assistant manager became the film Hotel Rwanda and his autobiography, "An Ordinary Man." The state-run Rwanda New Times, and thus AllAfrica.com, reported Rwanda's accusations and testimony against both Rusesabagina and Ingabire: "Lt. Col Tharcisse Nditurende and Lt. Col Noel Habiyambere, who were senior commanders of the FDLR (Democratic Forces for the Liberation of Rwanda), admitted having worked with Ingabire and Paul Rusesabagina to form rebel groups to launch offensives in the country." Rwanda: Ingabire Co-Accused Arraigned in Court, Rwanda New Times/AllAfrica.com, 04.30.2010