Rwanda hits back: Does this look like a hellhole?
RWANDAN officials hit out at the UN’s refugee agency yesterday for its ‘unjustified’ meddling in Britain’s plan to deport migrants to the African nation.
The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) denounced Priti Patel’s new immigration policy earlier this year, saying the UK was ‘abdicating responsibility’ for migrants, and it later intervened in a legal challenge brought by human rights activists to halt the deportations.
Yesterday the Rwandan government hit back at the agency, which has previously endorsed the African country for welcoming migrants from other nations. Spokesman Yolande Makolo said her country had been misrepresented by charities, campaigners and even British officials as a ‘hellhole’ and condemned critics for implying that Africa is ‘full of disease and no opportunities’.
Miss Makolo said: ‘In the last couple of years, both the head of the UNHCR and his deputy have visited Rwanda, and they have been very effusive about what a welcoming country Rwanda is.
‘So it’s a bit of a surprise that they come up at this point to try and bring unjustified challenges to this partnership instead of working with us to iron out whatever they think is not working correctly.
‘There is this narrative cast by different media that Africa is a hellhole, which isn’t true. Africa is a source of solutions.’
Rwanda has agreed to take up to 1,000 migrants from the UK in a trial deal worth £120million. If the legal challenge fails, the first migrants will be deported in September, but Rwanda is currently only prepared to take around 200 asylum seekers despite the full £120million being paid in advance.
Plans are in place to house 100 migrants in the £58 a night Hope Hostel in the country’s capital Kigali.