Kigali Calls for Rwanda Genocide Suspects to Be Extradited by London After Migrant Deal

The UK will send asylum seekers to off-shore processing centres in the Sub-Saharan African nation of Rwanda as part the British government's new plan to tackle soaring numbers of illegal immigrants being trafficked across the English Channel from mainland Europe.

Rwandan President Paul Kagame made it clear on Monday that he wants the UK to extradite suspects wanted in Rwanda for their alleged roles in the 1994 genocide, a month after the two countries clinched a deal to relocate asylum seekers.

Speaking to senior diplomats in Kigali, Kagame expressed hope that “when the UK is sending us these migrants, they should send us some people they have accommodated for over 15 years who committed crimes [in Rwanda]”.

“We sent case files [to the UK] and […] investigated. These are clear case files. Instead of being accommodated there in that beautiful place of [the] UK, they should be in jail, either in the UK or here,” he emphasised.

Rwanda Asylum Deal

Kagame spoke after British Home Secretary Priti Patel and Rwandan Minister of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation Vincent Birut signed on 14 April a bilateral asylum pact that granted an initial down-payment of £120m ($157 million) to the Rwandan government. Under the agreement, adult migrants who have arrived in the UK seeking sanctuary since January would be flown to Rwanda. Children and their parents are exempt.

After asylum claims are processed by London within a period of three months, those successful would have the option to stay in the East African country for at least five years should they wish to.

The deal stipulates that people relocated to Rwanda "will be given support, including up to five years of education, vocational and skills training, as well as integration, accommodation, and healthcare, so that they can resettle and thrive”. The Daily Mail cited unnamed sources as saying that the first flight to Rwanda is expected before the end of May.

The deal was inked in sync with the UK government's so-called "New Plan for Immigration" which aims to stem the escalating migrant crisis in Britain. More than 5,000 illegal immigrants have already arrived in the UK by small boat crossings since the start of this year, according to the latest government estimates. The authorities don’t rule out that this year may see a record 60,000 people trafficked to Britain by sea in dangerously overloaded small boats. Last year, more than 28,500 migrants crossed the English Channel to reach the UK, up from over 8,400 in 2020.

Rwanda Genocide

The 1994 Rwandan massacre saw the mass genocide of the Tutsi ethnic minority by members of the Hutu majority government. At least 800,000 Rwandans are estimated to have been killed during the 100-day killing spree between 7 April and mid-July 1994; about 70 percent of the Tutsi population was slaughtered.

The genocide began after the murder of former Rwandan president Juvenal Habyarimana and ended when the Tutsi-backed Rwandan Patriotic Front, led by Paul Kagame, took control of the country.