Paul Rusesabagina, at DePauw April 25th, Meets with President Bush at the White House

February 18, 2005

February 18, 2005, Greencastle, Ind. - "Paul Rusesabagina, the hotel manager portrayed in the movie Hotel Rwanda, told President Bush on Thursday that the situation in Sudan's war-ravaged Darfur region mirrors the genocide he survived in Rwanda a decade ago," begins an Associated Press report. Rusesabagina will deliver The Timothy and Sharon Ubben Lecture at DePauw University April 25.

"Bush and his wife, Laura, met with Rusesabagina and his wife, Tatiana, for about 20 minutes. White House press secretary Scott McClellan said Bush was moved by the movie and asked to meet with Rusesabagina when he heard he'd be in town," the AP notes. (White House photo shows President Bush and Laura Bush with the Rusesabaginas in the Oval Office)

After the meeting, Rusesabagina said, "What is going on in Darfur is exactly what was going on in Rwanda." The article adds, "Rusesabagina... wants to work with the president to raise awareness about world crises... Rusesabagina, who now runs a heavy-duty transport business in Zambia, hid 1,268 people in the hotel he was managing to keep them safe from Hutu extremist militias and soldiers who killed more than 500,000 minority Tutsis and politically moderate Hutus in 1994."

Read the complete story by clicking here. Learn more about Paul Rusesabagina's Ubben Lecture here.

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