Migrants resettled in Rwanda express mixed views on life in African country

Britain's recent decision to send some migrants to Rwanda is questioned by several people resettled in the tiny East African country who say it is not a suitable refuge.

One Eritrean refugee who was deported from Israel to Rwanda in 2015 said he found the country "too difficult" and moved his family to South Sudan, which promised better economic opportunities than Rwanda even though it was gripped by civil war at the time.

Berhani, 35, who gave only his first name to avoid possible reprisals, said he knows manyothereritreansresettled in Rwanda who have since left to make new homes in neighbouring African countries or in Europe.

Questions are swirling around the suitability of Rwanda as a shelter for migrants following Britain's announcement earlier this month that it will send to Rwanda migrants arriving in the UK illegally as stowaways on trucks or small boats.

Their asylum claims will be processed in Rwanda and, if successful, they will stay there.

The new policy is already being challenged in Britain's courts by a rights group that says it is unlawful.

Rwanda already is home to more than 130,000 refugees from countries such as

Burundi, Congo, Libya and Pakistan, Rwandan foreign affairs minister Vincent Biruta told reporters after signing the agreement with British Home Secretary Priti Patel in Kigali, the Rwandan capital, on April 14.

The plan has been criticised by rights groups and others who say it is cruel, expensive and unworkable.

The UN refugee agency has described it as "contrary to the letter and spirit of the Refugee Convention".

And the view of some refugees who years ago were resettled in Rwanda against their wishes is often far from rosy.

Rwandan authorities in recent years have given asylum to hundreds of people seeking shelter as a result of arrangements with Israel, the African Union, the United Nations and others.

Many were from Eritrea and Ethiopia, including a group that had languished for months in detention centres in Libya.

Rwanda's agreement to take migrants that Britain deems illegal appears to ignore the country's own challenges.

The small country has about 13 million people, making it the most densely populated in Africa.

Competition for land and resources contributed to decades of ethnic and political tensions that culminated in the 1994 genocide in which more than 800,000 ethnic Tutsi and the moderate Hutu who tried to protect them were killed.

President Paul Kagame's government has achieved significant economic progress since the genocide, but critics say it has come at the cost of political repression.

Obedience to authorities is widely enforced, one reason Rwandan cities and towns are clean and among the most orderly anywhere in Africa.

There is little political opposition.

Human Rights Watch has accused Rwandan authorities of targeting poor people in the arbitrary arrests of street vendors, sex workers, homeless people and street children.