Rwanda wants Britain to pay it £50 million ($63.5 million) over an abandoned migrant deportation plan, after the UK censured the East African nation for supporting rebels fighting in neighboring Democratic Republic of Congo.
British Prime Minister Keir Starmer last year scrapped the controversial plan of his predecessor Rishi Sunak to relocate asylum-seekers to the East African nation at an estimated cost of £170,000 per person.
“The UK had asked Rwanda to quietly forego the payment based on the trust and good faith existing between our two nations,” government spokeswoman Yolande Makolo said on X.
“However, the UK has breached this trust through the unjustified punitive measures to coerce Rwanda into compromising our national security.
We are therefore following up on these funds, to which the UK is legally bound.”
Britain suspended most financial aid to Rwanda last week over its backing for the M23 rebel group, which has seized large swathes of mineral-rich territory in eastern Congo.
President Paul Kagame’s government has repeatedly denied the allegations, as reported by Bloomberg.
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