[AfricaRealities.com] African hero, now living in San Antonio, will run for Rwanda presidency

African hero, now living in S.A., will run for Rwanda presidency

By Bill Lambrecht, Washington Bureau

January 28, 2016

Photo: LAWRENCE JACKSON, STF / AP

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President Bush awards, Paul Rusesabagina, who sheltered people at a hotel he managed during the 1994 Rwandan genocide, the Presidential Medal of Freedom Award in the East Room of the White House, Wednesday, ... more

WASHINGTON - Paul Rusesabagina, a San Antonio resident who gained fame for saving hundreds of lives in Rwanda in the 1990s, on Thursday declared his candidacy for the presidency of the east African country ruled for two decades by a dictator.

Rusesabagina called on the United States government and leaders around the world to halt foreign aid to Rwanda and support for its longtime president, Paul Kagame.

"Today, I publicly declare that I have decided to combine humanitarian with political action to liberate the Rwandan people from the dictatorship," Rusesabagina told a gathering of supporters and journalists in a downtown Washington conference room.

"All facts and available data show that the (Kagame) government thrives on chaos, corruption, impunity, injustice," he said.

Rusesabagina became known internationally in the 2004 film "Hotel Rwanda," which depicted his heroism in saving the lives of 1,268 people in his hotel during the genocide mass slaughter in Rwanda in 1994. American actor Don Cheadle portrayed Rusesabagina.

Rusesabagina, 61, fled Rwanda in 1996 hours after a failed attempt on his life, he recounted in an interview. He and his wife, Taciana, moved to San Antonio in 2009 to be near friends after he was threatened in Brussels, where they had been living. They keep a residence in Belgium.

The candidacy Rusesabagina announced is unlike a traditional campaign and, for now, amounts to an effort to rally people in Rwanda while pressuring the United States and other governments to acknowledge abuses by Kagame during his 22 years in power.

Kagame said earlier this month that he will seek another term in office in 2017 under a recent constitutional change. He has been president since 2000, but in control of the nation since forces he led ended the genocide of Tutsi people in 1994.

It is unlikely that Rusesabagina will return to Rwanda anytime soon to campaign, given the danger. In a report last year, the advocacy group Human Rights Watch noted ominously that "real or suspected opponents inside and outside the country continue to be targeted."

Rusesabagina said: "It will not be the business of one individual. It will take not a village, but a whole country to be mobilized. And we have started mobilizing,"

He added: "Human rights are abused every day and every night. There is no freedom of media. But we have a very strong network outside the country. And each and everybody outside the country has a link within the country."

Bob Krueger, a former Democratic congressman from New Braunfels and briefly a U.S. senator, introduced Rusesabagina at the gathering. In the Clinton administration, Krueger was ambassador to Burundi and Botswana. He left Burundi after gunmen with AK-47s opened fire on his motorcade.

Krueger referred to Kagame as "the most ruthless, murderous dictator on the huge continent of Africa…He needs to be replaced, not by killing him and not by revolution but by honest elections in Rwanda overseen by a large, intensive, multinational force of international observers."

And then, Krueger added, Rwandans can look to Rusesabagina, who he described as an ordinary man "who never carried a gun and never killed a soul, but by his bravery, saved over 1,200 people in a hotel and many more in his community, capital and nation."

bill.lambrecht@hearstdc.com

[AfricaRealities.com] Rwanda court hears case to block third presidential term

Wednesday's supreme court case was quickly adjourned after the lawyer for the Democratic Green Party failed to appear. One party official told Reuters lawyers had been fearful about taking on the case. The court panel of nine judges led by Chief Justice Sam Rugege adjourned and set the next hearing for July 29. http://mobile.reuters.com/article/idUSKCN0PI11X20150708?irpc=932 Email Facebook Twitter By Clement Uwiringiyimana KIGALI (Reuters) - Rwanda's main opposition party opened a case in the Supreme Court on Wednesday seeking to prevent constitutional change that would allow President Paul Kagame to run for a third term seven-year in office. The debate about term limits and challenges to veteran leaders has flared in several places in Africa. The United States and other Western nations have been pressing African leaders to stick to constitutional rules on presidential terms. Wednesday's supreme court case was quickly adjourned...

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