'Hotel Rwanda''s Paul Rusasebagina, 20 Years On

CLICK 'Pod' icon (above left) to listen to the radio interview.

(IMPORTANT NOTE: @KerryZuckus points out that Rusasebagina's is just one side of a complex story. Zuckus believes that in"INSIDE THE HOTEL RWANDA": a different 'truth' is perhaps exposed. wp.me/p3lmJ2-4g - cut & paste link - via @rwandaissues

Twenty years ago, beginning on April 6 1994, more than 800,000 people were killed in Rwanda in a horrific genocide that spanned 100 days.  To mark the 20th anniversary of the horrendous events of that time, KGNU's Claudia Cragg speaks where with Paul Rusesabagina, the part played by actor Don Cheadle in the film 'Hotel Rwanda'.

Genocide continues to be a tragic global issue. To raise awareness of and commemorate the 20th anniversary of the Rwandan genocide, the autobiography of Paul Rusesabagina, who saved thousands of lives during the horrific events of 1994 has been re-published. 

In his book, An Ordinary Man, Paul Rusesabagina provides an inside look into his life both before and after the horrendous mass murder in Rwanda. As the manager of the exclusive 'Hotel Les Milles Collines' he sheltered more than 1,200 Tutsis and Hutu moderates from the killings. The story brings the reader inside the hotel during those 100 days, relates the anguish of those who saw loved ones brutally murdered, and describe Rusesabagina's ambivalence at pouring scotch and lighting the cigars of killers in the Swimming Pool bar, even as he was trying to cram as many refugees as possible inside the guest rooms upstairs. Rusesabagina explores his inner turmoil as he discusses the racial complexity within his own life (he is a Hutu married to a Tutsi) and his complete estrangement from the madness that surrounded him during the genocide