President Paul Kagame of Rwanda has declared that no one would “bully” the country regarding its internal matters. Mr. Kagame said this in response to the US demand for the release of regime critic Paul Rusesabagina.
On the eve of the US-Africa Summit in Washington, the news website Semafor hosted a discussion on African issues. Mr. Kagame was asked if the US’s support for Mr. Rusesabagina through Antony Blinken was “helping or hurting” his case.
Because “this person is a celebrity,” Mr. Kagame claimed, “somebody in America” wanted the case to be “nullified.” Mr. Rusesabagina and 20 other defendants were found guilty of terrorism-related offences last year.
“If we let him free, how about these other 20 who pointed him as even being their leader?” President Kagame asked.
“We have made it clear, there isn’t anybody going to come from anywhere to bully us into something to do with our lives – you can maybe make an invasion and overrun the country,” he added sarcastically.
The 68-year-old Mr. Rusesabagina was portrayed as a hero in a Hollywood film on the Rwandan genocide.
He was deceived into boarding a private plane from Dubai to Rwanda’s capital, Kigali, believing he was going to Bujumbura in Burundi, and was given a 25-year prison sentence as a result.
His family has referred to the trial as a fraud and said that Mr. Rusesabagina was forcibly brought from exile to Rwanda. According to the US, Mr. Rusesabagina is being held “unlawfully” in Rwanda.
