Rwanda ‘cannot say’ how many migrants it will take
THE Rwandan government cannot guarantee how many migrants it will take from the UK under Prime Minister Rishi Sunak’s flagship deportation scheme.
But Yolande Makolo, a spokeswoman for the east African state, said Rwanda would be able to welcome more than 200 people initially. Rwanda has entered into a five-year deal to take in migrants from the UK.
Sunak’s plan to deal with asylum seekers arriving in the UK via irregular routes including the
English Channel is to place them on a one-way flight to Kigali. He hopes this will deter other small boats attempting the journey from France.
Asked on the BBC’s Sunday With Laura Kuenssberg if Rwanda would be able to process tens of thousands of migrants as part of the deal, Makolo said: “We will be able to welcome the migrants that the UK sends over the lifetime of this partnership.
“What I cannot tell you is how many thousands we are taking in the first year or the second year. This will depend on very many factors that are being worked out right now.”
She had earlier said there was a “misconception” that Rwanda was only prepared to take 200 initial migrants, saying: “Journalists have been visiting the initial accommodation that we have secured since the beginning of the partnership. This is Hope Hostel. That particular facility is able to take up to 200 people.
“However, we have already started initial discussions with other facilities around Kigali and further afield and these will be firmed up and signed once we know how many migrants are coming and when they are coming. So it has never been the case that we can only take 200 initially, that has been a misconception.”
Keir Starmer has said Labour will not keep the Rwanda policy if it wins the next election, but this has prompted questions about what the party would do instead.
Makolo urged critics of the plan not to attack Rwanda “unjustly”, and to present a solu=tion to the migrant crisis which was “not just deterrence and enforcement”.
“People are suffering here so we need good solutions,” she said.
Labour’s national campaign co-ordinator Pat McFadden said