Rwanda has billed the United Kingdom £50 million for its cancelled deportation scheme, escalating a diplomatic row between the two countries.
This is despite the UK government’s announcement days after the new administration came into power last year, saying the scheme was “dead and buried”.
The Rwandan government said the UK is yet to formally terminate the agreement, allowing it to claim the payment.
The demand comes after David Lammy, UK foreign secretary, suspended aid to Rwanda last week, and threatened further sanctions over repeated claims that Rwanda is backing the M23 rebel group, which is causing havoc in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC).
In addition, Ray Collins, UK minister for Africa, suggested that Rwanda had links with the Ugandan Islamic State-linked group ADF, which recently killed 70 people in a church in eastern DRC. His comments were subsequently retracted.
Reacting in a statement on Tuesday, Yolande Makolo, spokesperson for the Rwandan government, said the UK had breached the “trust and good faith” between the two countries by its “unjustified punitive measures to coerce Rwanda into compromising our national security”.
“We are therefore following up on these funds, to which the UK is legally bound,” Makolo added.
The UK government has already paid £220 million to Rwanda under the arrangement. Yet, there has been no record of a single migrant being forcibly deported to the Eastern African country.
Under the agreement, three further payments are expected, each of £50 million, to be made in April 2024, 2025 and 2026.
It is believed the £50 million now requested by Rwanda relates to the payment for April 2025.
Makolo said Rwanda has sent a formal notification to the UK Government invoicing for the payment.
(The Cable)
