Rwanda says will 'accept up to 250 migrants' from US
The latest deal follows a cancelled agreement with Britain under which Kigali would have received deported illegal migrants from the UK.
Rwanda flag. Picture: Wikimedia Commons: Dave Proffer
KIGALI - Rwanda said Tuesday it would accept up to 250 migrants from the United States under a deal agreed with Washington but gave no details on who could be included.
Washington has been pushing a deportation drive, with President Donald Trump's administration negotiating controversial arrangements to send people to third countries, among them South Sudan and Eswatini.
The latest deal follows a cancelled agreement with Britain under which Kigali would have received deported illegal migrants from the UK.
The multi-million deal was scrapped after the British government that negotiated it lost last year's elections.
"Rwanda has agreed with the United States to accept up to 250 migrants," government spokesperson Yolande Makolo told AFP.
She said Kigali would maintain "the ability to approve each individual proposed for resettlement".
Makolo said Kigali had agreed to the new scheme with Washington because "nearly every Rwandan family has experienced the hardships of displacement".
Those who arrive in Rwanda will be provided with training, healthcare and accommodation, she added.
No further information was given, including any indication of a timeline, with Makolo saying that Rwanda "will provide more details once these have been worked out".
Since returning to the White House in January, Trump has taken a number of actions aimed at speeding up deportations of undocumented migrants to countries that are not their own.
His administration has defended so-called third-country deportations as necessary, since the home nations of some of those targeted for removal sometimes refuse to accept them.
ALSO READ: DR Congo, Rwanda hold first talks after peace deal
But rights experts have warned that the deportations risk breaking international law by sending people to nations where they face the risk of torture, abduction and other abuses.
South Sudan -- which is teetering on the edge of renewed conflict -- accepted eight criminal migrants from the United States, with Juba saying in July they remained in government care. Only one is South Sudanese.
Five other migrants labelled criminals by the United States were flown to Eswatini in July and incarcerated.
The government later said they will be repatriated to their own nations.
MIXED RECORD
Rwanda, home to 13 million people in Africa's Great Lakes region, claims to be one of the most stable countries on the continent and has drawn praise for its modern infrastructure.
However, the migrant agreement with London drew criticism from rights groups and faced a long-running legal challenge.
President Paul Kagame's government is often accused of rampant human rights violations, crushing political dissent and press freedoms.
Kigali has also come under pressure over its role in the violence roiling the neighbouring eastern Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC).
In June, the DRC and Rwanda signed a peace agreement aimed at ending decades of conflict in eastern DRC, which saw a fresh surge of clashes this year when the M23 armed group, backed by Rwandan troops, captured two major cities.