Rwanda in ‘initial’ migration talks with European nations

Rwanda and some European nations are holding migration talks, Kigali’s spokesperson said Friday, a week after dramatic scenes of thousands crossing the Morocco-Spain border reignited the migration debate in Europe. (AFP/File)

• The broad talks were around an “emergency transit mechanism,” said Makolo
• The talks referred to Rwanda’s “general approach and experience on the migration issue,” she added

KIGALI: Rwanda and some European nations are holding migration talks, Kigali’s spokesperson said Friday, a week after dramatic scenes of thousands crossing the Morocco-Spain border reignited the migration debate in Europe.
In June European lawmakers approved tougher migration rules, notably enabling nations to open “return hubs” outside the EU’s borders, where migrants with no right to stay could be sent.
Kigali government spokesperson Yolande Makolo, asked specifically about an agreement with Italy by Rwanda’s Royal FM radio station, said that while discussions were ongoing, there was “no agreement yet.”
The broad talks were around an “emergency transit mechanism,” said Makolo.
Rwanda could provide “a safe place for families who are stranded... have nowhere else to go or in danger for various reasons,” she added.
She said the families could either return to their countries of origin or be resettled in another nation after applying for asylum.
Makolo later confirmed to AFP that they had had “some initial discussions with some European countries but nothing has been decided.”
The talks referred to Rwanda’s “general approach and experience on the migration issue,” she added.
These latest talks echo an agreement the Great Lakes nation reached with the United Kingdom under the former Conservative government but subsequently scrapped by its successor.
Under that deal, Rwanda had agreed to take migrants who had arrived in Britain via “dangerous or illegal journeys.”
It also comes following last week’s scenes when tens of thousands of people crossed into Spain’s north African enclave of Ceuta, which borders Morocco.
Although most of those who made the crossing subsequently returned to Morocco, the affair prompted calls by right-wing European leaders for tougher border controls.
Rwanda is among the African countries to have agreed to receive people deported from the United States, reportedly in exchange for a million-dollar aid deal, according to Human Rights Watch.
The deal with the United Kingdom to send undocumented migrants to Rwanda was scrapped after Labour replaced the Conservative administration there.
Kigali recently lost a $135-million court challenge over that decision.