Paul Rusesabagina (born June 15, 1955 in Murama-Gitarama, Rwanda) was the assistant manager of the Hotel des Mille Collines, and later the manager of the Hôtel des Diplomates, both in Kigali, Rwanda. During the 1994 Rwandan genocide, Rusesabagina used his influence and connections as temporary manager of the Mille Collines to shelter over 1,200 Tutsis and moderate Hutus from being slaughtered by the Interahamwe militia.

Birth and career

Rusesabagina was born in Murama-Gitarama in the Central-South region of Rwanda. He graduated from Utalii College in Nairobi, Kenya in its Hotel Management program, which included a trip to Switzerland. When he returned from Switzerland, he went to work for Sabena Hotels as assistant general manager in their Mille Collines Hotel from October 1984 until November 1993, when he was promoted to general manager of the company's Diplomate Hotel in Kigali.
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Genocide

The Rwandan genocide started on April 7, 1994 as the Hutu-led Interahamwe began to slaughter the Tutsi population. Though Rusesabagina was a Hutu, and therefore safe from the Interahamwe, his wife Tatiana was a Tutsi, and their children were of mixed heritage; therefore he could not escape the war zone with his family without outside help. However, no foreign aid came from the United Nations or its more powerful Western member states until over 900,000 Rwandans had been murdered.

When the violence began, Rusesabagina brought his family to the Mille Collines for safety. As other managers departed, Rusesabagina phoned Sabena and secured a letter appointing him as the acting general manager of the Mille Collines. Despite some difficulty in getting the staff to accept his authority, he was able to use his position to shelter the orphans and other refugees who came to the hotel.

He eventually moved to Belgium and has been living there since 1996.

Credit: en.wikipedia.org