Rwanda confirms European visit on migrant deportations

Rwanda has confirmed that representatives from several European countries visited this week for talks on possible transit arrangements for deported migrants.

Rwandan Foreign Minister Olivier Nduhungirehe told AFP that “the visit indeed occurred and the negotiations are ongoing,” but did not give further details or a timetable.

German magazine Der Spiegel reported last week that Germany, Austria, Denmark, Greece and the Netherlands were preparing to send a delegation to Rwanda to discuss centres for rejected asylum seekers.

All five countries have said they want to create such hubs outside the European Union by the end of the year, after the European Parliament passed legislation in June allowing member states to do so. Rights groups have criticised the move.

Rwanda’s government said earlier this month that it had begun preliminary discussions with several European countries about migrant transit centres, without naming them.

One option under discussion is the Gashora Transit Centre, about 60 kilometres from Kigali, where migrants stranded in Libya were sent from 2019 while their asylum applications were processed. Government spokesperson Yolande Makolo told a local radio station that many have since left.

Rwanda previously reached a 2022 deal with the Conservative government of then British prime minister Boris Johnson to accept undocumented migrants arriving in the UK by small boats across the Channel from northern France. Prime Minister Keir Starmer scrapped the plan after taking office in 2024, after the UK Supreme Court deemed it illegal.