The Indian Express (Delhi Edition)

Rwanda says it does not have to repay UK for scrapped migrant deportatio­n policy

RWANDA DOES not have to repay the hundreds of millions of pounds it received from Britain as part of a contentiou­s policy aimed at sending migrants on a one- way flight to the Central African nation, two senior Rwandan government officials say.

Rwanda’s president had previously suggested that such money could be returned.

As part of the deal, Britain was set to give Rwanda as much as about half a billion pounds in developmen­t funding in exchange for taking in the migrants. Britain’s independen­t public spending watchdog said in early

March that the country had already paid Rwanda £ 220 million, about $ 280 million, even though no asylum seekers had been deported to the African nation.

Britain’s new prime minister,

Keir Starmer, scrapped the plan after taking over last week.

One of the Rwandan officials, Alain Mukuralind­a, the government’s deputy spokesman, said on Wednesday that the agreement did not include a reimbursem­ent clause.

“The British decided to request cooperatio­n for a long time, resulting in an agreement between the two countries that became a treaty,” he said. “Now, if you come and ask for cooperatio­n and then withdraw, that’s your decision.”

The other official, Doris Uwicyeza Picard, the coordinato­r of the migration partnershi­p with Britain, said in a statement late Wednesday that her country was under “no obligation” to refund the money. She said Rwanda would remain in “constant discussion­s” with British officials about the next steps, though she did not elaborate on what those steps might be or when such discussion­s would begin. NYT