Rwanda has clarified that it is not obligated to refund the UK following the termination of a controversial multi-million pound migrant agreement between the two countries.
Keir Starmer, the new UK Prime Minister and Labour Party leader, declared over the weekend that the plan to deport some asylum seekers to Rwanda was
“dead and buried.”
This scheme, initiated by the former Conservative government in 2022, involved the UK paying Rwanda £240 million ($310 million) in exchange for receiving asylum seekers.
A day after Starmer’s announcement, a Rwandan government spokesperson asserted on state television that
“Let this be clear, paying back the money was never part of the agreement.”
Alain Mukuralinda emphasised that the partnership was requested by the UK and extensively discussed, but did not include a clause for the return of funds.
Despite Rwandan President Paul Kagame’s suggestion in January that some money could be refunded if no asylum seekers were transferred, the government later reiterated that there was no obligation to do so.
The agreement, which was set to provide Rwanda with up to half a billion pounds in development funding, had not seen any asylum seekers deported to the African nation before its cancellation. Despite the significant financial investment, the UK’s independent public spending watchdog reported in March that £220 million had already been paid to Rwanda.
The termination of the agreement marks a significant policy shift under Prime Minister Starmer’s leadership, aiming to move away from the previous government’s controversial measures to deter unauthorised migrant crossings of the English Channel.