By Chinasaokwu Helen Okoro
The Rwandan government has hinted that it won’t reimburse more than $300 million it has received from the United Kingdom since 2022 for a deal to deport asylum seekers deemed to have arrived illegally in the UK to the East African nation.
A Rwandan government spokesperson 0said on Tuesday that its migrant deal with the UK did not include any “clause regarding reimbursement” after the newly-elected British Prime Minister Keir Starmer said that he would scrap the controversial agreement.
“Within the agreement there was no clause regarding reimbursement… it never stated that the money would be refunded,” spokesperson Alain Mukuralinda said in a video posted by state-owned Rwanda Broadcasting Agency.
“We had an agreement. Both parties signed, it became an international agreement, we start implementing it, then after that you want out … best of luck,” Mukuralinda said.
The UK has given Rwanda £240 million (around $307 million) so far as part of the deal, according to a fact sheet published by the British government in April this year.
New British Prime Minister Keir Starmer holds a press conference following his first cabinet meeting at Downing Street on July 6, 2024, in which he pledged to ditch the agreement with Rwanda.
New British Prime Minister Keir Starmer holds a press conference following his first cabinet meeting at Downing Street on July 6, 2024, in which he pledged to ditch the agreement with Rwanda.
The Rwandan government has hinted that it won’t reimburse more than $300 million it has received from the United Kingdom since 2022 for a deal to deport asylum seekers deemed to have arrived illegally in the UK to the East African nation.
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