Man who inspired “Hotel Rwanda” movie arrested, protests in Ethiopia and Zimbabwe

Paul Rusesabagina, the man who inspired the main character of the movie “Hotel Rwanda” and a vocal critic of the Rwandan government under Paul Kagame, was arrested on charges of terrorism. According to Rusesabagina’s family, he was “kidnapped” from Dubai and transported to Rwanda. The country’s investigation bureau’s spokesman informed that he is suspected of “being a founder or a leader or sponsor or member of violent armed extremist terror outfits … operating out of various places in the region and abroad” but he’s not yet officially charged. During the 1994 genocide, Rusesabagina sheltered 1,268 people as a manager of Hotel des Diplomates in Kigali.

The government of Zimbabwe has summoned the Vatican representative in response to the letter of Catholic bishops who accused the regime of corruption, abuse of power and “unprecedented” repression of dissidents protesting against the corruption in the country. It’s the first time the Catholic church has taken a stand on the issue.

An estimated 180 people have died in recent unrest in the state of Oromia, Ethiopia that started with the murder of Oromo artist Haacaaluu Hundeessaa. Protests came with the devastation of both private and public property. Several thousand people were arrested. For years Oromos considered themselves excluded from political and economic life. From the ethnic group comes Ethiopian prime minister and 2019 Nobel Peace Prize laureate, Abyi Ahmed. It remains unclear who killed Hundeessaa. The government claims that it was orchestrated together with the following unrest by Oromo nationalist militias and Tigrayan People’s Liberation Front in an attempt to stop ongoing reforms, but both deny the accusation.