UK stops payments for cancelled Rwanda deportation scheme

Britain on Wednesday said that “no further payments” will be made to Rwanda for an abandoned scheme to receive deported migrants, despite Kigali insisting it is owed the money.

“The costly Migration and Economic Development Partnership with Rwanda wasted tax-payer money and should not continue,” said a UK government spokesman.

“That is why we are bringing the partnership to an end. As stated clearly in notes verbale between the UK and Rwanda, no further payments in relation to this policy will be made and Rwanda has waived any additional payments,” he added.

Britain announced last week it was suspending most financial aid to Rwanda for backing the M23 group’s offensive in the Democratic Republic of Congo.

Kigali called the move “punitive”, and pointed to the abandoned agreement to receive deported illegal migrants from Britain — a scheme crafted in 2022 by former prime minister Boris Johnson.

When Keir Starmer became prime minister in July 2024, he declared the agreement “dead and buried” before it launched.

Rwanda warned at the time that it would not return the £240 million ($304 million) already paid by London. A further £50 million was still to be paid.

“The UK had asked Rwanda to quietly forego the payment based on the trust and good faith existing between our two nations,” Rwandan government spokeswoman Yolande Makolo posted on X.

“However, the UK has breached this trust through the unjustified punitive measures to coerce Rwanda into compromising our national security,” she added.

The M23 took up arms again at the end of 2021 — backed by 4,000 Rwandan soldiers according to UN experts. It seized Bukavu, capital of South Kivu province, last month after taking control of the North Kivu capital of Goma in January.