Hostel ready for U.K. deportees
Rwanda says it’s ready to receive migrants from the United Kingdom, after British Parliament last week approved a long-stalled and controversial bill seeking to stem the tide of people crossing the English Channel in small boats by deporting some of them to the East African country.
There is even a place ready and waiting for the mi- grants — a refurbished Hope Hostel in the vibrant upscale neighbourhood of Kagugu, an area of the Rwandan capital of Kigali that is home to many expats and several international schools.
The hostel once housed college students whose par- ents died in the 1994 genocide, this African nation’s most horrific period in history when an estimated 800,000 Tutsi were killed by extremist Hutu in massa- cres that lasted more than 100 days.
British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak has pledged the deportation flights would begin in July, but has refused to provide details or say how many people would be deported.
The Rwanda government’s deputy spokesperson Alain Mukuralinda said Tuesday that authorities have been planning for the migrants’ arrival for two years.
“Even if they arrive now or tomorrow, all arrange- ments are in place,” he said.
The plan was long held up in British courts and by opposition from human rights activists who say it is illegal and inhumane. It envisages deporting to Rwan- da some of those who enter the U.K. illegally, and migrant advocates have vowed to continue to fight the plan.
The measure is also meant to be a deterrent to mi- grants who risk their lives in leaky, inflatable boats in hopes that they will be able to claim asylum once they reach Britain.
The U.K. also signed a new treaty with Rwanda to beef up protections for migrants, and adopted new legisla- tion declaring Rwanda to be a safe country.
“The Rwanda critics and the U.K. judges who earlier said Rwanda is not a safe country have been proven wrong,” Mukuralinda said. “Rwanda is safe.”
The management at the four-storey Hope Hostel says the facility is ready and can accommodate 100 people at full capacity.
The government says it will serve as a transit centre and that more accommodations would be made avail- able as needed.
The government has said the migrants will have their papers processed within the first three months. Those who want to remain in Rwanda will be allowed to do so, while authorities will also assist those who wish to return to their home countries.