Rwanda’s president has offered to repay hundreds of millions of pounds if the UK is unable to send any asylum seekers to the country as part of its flagship small boats policy.
Paul Kagame said whether or not Rishi Sunak’s policy is successful is not Rwanda’s problem. “Ask the UK,” he said, when asked whether the scheme, which has cost £240m so far, is working.
No asylum seekers have yet been sent to the country.
But asked by the BBC, on the sidelines of the World Economic Forum in Davos, why his country was taking millions of pounds of UK money, without so far taking any asylum seekers, President Kagame replied: “It’s only going to be used if those people will come.
“If they don’t come, we can return the money.”
Mr Kagame did not clarify how much of the money he would return, or when.
Asked by the BBC about the current political and legal obstacles around the deal with his country, Kagame said that it was “not Rwanda’s problem”.
“Ask the UK – it is the UK’s problem, not Rwanda’s problem”, he said.
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