"Straight Talk Africa" on November 16, 2011 – VOA’s "Straight Talk Africa" Host, Shaka Ssali discuss the significance of the Tom Lantos Foundation on Human Rights as they honored Paul Rusesabagina for the 2011 award for providing refuge to over 1200 Rwandans during the 1994 genocide.

Excerpt from Paul Ndiho (VOA News) reporting:

I spoke to Paul Rusesabagina and he said that he fears for his life because of threats for Paul Kagame’s government. Rusesabagina and Kagame don’t have kind words for each other. And they challenge each other’s actions during the genocide.
Rusesabagina:

“…he (Kagame) thought that Rwanda has one person, and only one, who is supposed to be called a hero… He has made each and everyone understand that he was the saviour of the Rwandan nation. He had stopped the genocide. This was his message.”

In 2006, Paul Kagame in a VOA press conference played down Rusesabagina’s heroism. Kagame said that Rusesabagina’s story of saving hundreds of people is misleading.
Kagame:

“…he (Rusesabagina) claims to have saved people in Hotel Mille Collines. And… one he had no possibility of saving them in the first place. Secondary the people who were there, including our prime minister in the Government of Rwanda, who was also there, including the lady here Senator Odette, she was there. In fact she is the only one who can say maybe she was saved by Rusesabagina on the basis that they knew each other.”

Paul Rusesabagina dubbed by some the Oskar Schindler of Africa questions Paul Kagame’s claims that he stopped genocidal killings in Rwanda.
Oskar Schindler was a German industrialist who outweeded Hitler and the nazis to save more than 1200 Jews from gas chambers by employing them to work for him in his factories during World War II.

Rusesabagina:

“My main question is this. Is kagame a part of the genocide solution or the genocide problem. Kagame has been a part of the genocide problem.”

…
Paul Ndiho, VOA News.