'Hotel Rwanda' humanitarian gives lecture

TAHLEQUAH, Okla. -- Internationally renowned humanitarian Paul Rusesabagina, whose efforts to save lives during the Rwandan genocide were recounted in the 2004 film Hotel Rwanda, delivered the Larry Adair Lectureship at Northeastern State University on March 26.

"NSU's mission is to empower individuals to become socially responsible global citizens," said Peggy Glenn, executive director of the NSU Foundation, which sponsored the event. "Most of our students do not have the means to travel to another country or continent, so we brought an international figure to Tahlequah to share his experiences and why we need to be aware of things that go on halfway around the world."

The Rwandan Civil War, virtually ignored by the outside world, was sparked when the plane of President Juvnal Habyarimana, a Hutu, was shot down on approach to the Rwandan capital of Kigali on April 6, 1994. Over the next 100 days, Hutu militias, or Interahamwe, killed about 800,000 Tutsis, political opponents and "moderate" Hutus.

Called "Africa's Oskar Schindler" by some, Rusesabagina used his leverage and contacts as a hotel manager in Kigali to shelter 1,268 Tutsi refugees during the genocide.