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Kagame said the issue of hosting migrants was not new to Rwanda and started way before its deal with the UK. He added that his country was processing migrants who were stuck in Libya while trying to cross into Europe and got stuck there, or others who were dying in the Mediterranean. Rwanda, he said, has been doing this service to the hapless migrants since 2018
In a virtual address to the Global Security Forum in Qatar, Rwanda’s President Paul Kagame defended his country’s track record in assisting refugees as human rights activists and others have criticized a new British law that will see Kigali paid for receiving illegal asylum seekers deported from the United Kingdom.
Kagame said the issue of hosting migrants was not new to Rwanda and started way before its deal with the UK. He added that his country was processing migrants who were stuck in Libya while trying to cross into Europe and got stuck there, or others who were dying in the Mediterranean. Rwanda, he said, has been doing this service to the hapless migrants since 2018.
Kagame said providing a haven for people to Rwanda or be “processed through the country to wherever they wanted to go”, dates as far back as 2018. Since 2018, hundreds and thousands of people have been brought by air from Libya to Rwanda. The UK might have taken cognizance of this service of Rwanda and that could be the reason for that country deciding to park the migrants in Kigali till the migration documents are processed.
Britain’s parliament passed the new legislation to send some migrants to Rwanda in April, clearing the runway for flights this European summer. Prime Minister Rishi Sunak ’s controversial plan is aimed at deterring risky English Channel crossings by people desperate to reach the UK. However, human rights activists and migrant groups have vowed to continue the fight against the policy, which they say is unethical and inhumane.
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The forum, at which delegates discussed issues related to supply chain management, energy security, high-end semiconductors, and food security, ended on Wednesday.
