By John Ikani
Rwandan President Paul Kagame says his country is not “trading human beings”, in his his first comments on Rwanda’s deal with the UK on migrants.
Heritage Times had earlier reported that the UK, through the Migration and Economic Development Partnership, seeks to transfer unauthorised migrants and asylum seekers to Rwanda.
Under the deal, asylum seekers arriving in the UK on small boats will be relocated to Rwanda for processing and resettlement.
The controversial £120m ($15m) deal has made global headlines and the authorities in both countries have faced criticism.
But speaking virtually at a seminar dubbed, ‘Rwanda Past and Present’, and hosted by Brown University’s Watson Institute, President Kagame noted that the deal was an innovative approach designed to help address the global migration crisis.
“We are not trading human beings, please. This is not the case, we are actually helping,” he said. “It’s a clear cut issue and it was actually something of an innovation that Rwanda put forth to deal with this migration issue.”
Mr Kagame said the UK approached Rwanda because of “what we managed in the Libyan case”.
He said he decided in 2018 when he chaired the African Union that Rwanda would offer shelter to migrants stuck in Libya while trying to cross to Europe.
“These people were stuck in Libya; they were trying to cross into Europe. Some (had) already died trying to cross the Mediterranean, others were kept in prison in Libya, in different cities and they were really stuck,” the Head of State observed.
He added: “At that time, I was the Chairman of the AU (African Union). And when the issue came up to me, I said, ‘well, we are not a rich country, we are not a big country, but there are solutions we can always help find and solve big problems,’” he said.
“So we told those international institutions that ‘we’re trying to deal with the problem…why don’t you actually bring these people (immigrants) to Rwanda?’”
The President also cited the fact that Rwanda has for decades hosted refugees. “They are here, we live with them.”
Rwanda was approached because of that history, and also how the Libyan case was handled, Kagame said.
