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Rwanda’s President Says the US Can’t ‘Bully’ Him Into Releasing Rusesabagina


The President of Rwanda, Paul Kagame, suggested that only an invasion of his country could force him to release him. Paul Rusesabagina, a rescuer during the 1994 Rwandan genocide which the Biden administration has called for release.

“We’ve made it clear that no one will come from anywhere to bully us into doing something about our lives,” Mr. Kagame said in response to a question about his appeal. Secretary of State Antony J. Blinken to Mr. Trump. The freedom of Rusesabagina.

“It is possible to make an invasion and occupy the country – you can do it,” he said. Mr. Kagame spoke on the sidelines of the US-Africa summit at an event organized by the Semafor news agency.

When asked if he would meet President Biden in person during this week’s summit, Mr Kagame said he was “not sure”.

Mr. Rusesabagina, 68, worked during the genocide as the manager of the Hôtel des Mille Collines in Kigali, the setting of the film “Rwanda Hotel.” The hotel accommodates more than 1,000 people at risk of being murdered; all survived. President George W. Bush presented him with the Presidential Medal of Freedom.

He is a longtime critic of the Rwandan leader, who was once hailed as a peacemaker – but has recently been widely criticized as a forceful repressor. In August 2020, Mr. Kagame entice Mr. Rusesabagina came to Rwanda fake from his home in Texas, where he is a permanent resident.

Rusesabagina, a Belgian national, had vowed never to return to his homeland and believed he would fly to Burundi. He was arrested on arrival in Kigali and ultimately convicted on charges related to violent rebel attacks in Rwanda in 2018 and 2019.

The State Department determined in May that Mr Rusesabagina was being “wrongfully detained”, a status also granted to Mr. basketball star Brittney Griner when she was arrested in Russiaand that makes Mr. Rusesabagina the equivalent of a political prisoner.

Some human rights activists have criticized Mr. Kagame’s attendance at the summit. Write to Time this weekJeffrey Smith, a democracy activist in sub-Saharan Africa, said: “The president of Rwanda stands out as being exceptionally cunning and ruthless in his comprehensive consolidation of political power in his homeland.”

Mr. Blinken raised the case of Mr. Rusesabagina during his August visit to Kigali, where he met Mr. Kagame. Mr. Blinken has also pressed the Rwandan leader about his country’s support of militias in eastern Congo and other human rights issues domestic.

“This problem is not created by Rwanda and is not a Rwandan problem,” Mr. Kagame said Wednesday of the conflict in neighboring Congo. “It’s the Congo’s problem. They are the ones who have to deal with it.”

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