DOHA — Rwanda’s President
Paul Kagame said
Tuesday that a controversial deal with Britain to take in migrants could be
extended to other countries as the asylum system is “broken”.
اضافة اعلان
Kagame, who is to host the Commonwealth summit in
Kigali this week, said he believed the British deal could still go ahead
despite being blocked by the
European Court of Human Rights.
Britain has wanted to send some migrants and asylum
seekers to Rwanda, in a proposal criticized by the UN refugee agency, rights
groups and British church leaders.
Earlier this month, the first flight carrying asylum
seekers was cancelled following a European court ruling.
But Rwanda’s veteran president told the Qatar
Economic Forum: “I think the agreement is still on and may be implemented as
well.”
Kagame said Rwanda has been hosting more than
100,000 refugees for decades, “so we are not new to this problem.
“In fact most Rwandans have experienced being a
refugee at some point in their lives. We know what it means and we are doing
this for the right reasons.”
Kagame highlighted his country’s experience in
giving “safe haven” to more than 1,000 people from
Libya with help of the UN
High Commissioner for Refugees.
“The arrangement with the UK is really connected to
that experience. There is no doubt that the asylum system is broken and it
needs innovative solutions and we are happy to be contributing to those
solutions.”
He added that when Britain approached Rwanda, “we talked
about it, we looked at all the merits and thought it was something we could try
to help out on as we have done in the past.”
Kagame said the model could be used with other
countries.
“We need to try something new. What has been in
place has not worked very well and that is why people are complaining about all
kinds of things and we are seeing increased migration.
“We need to really take a new look at the problem.”
Kagame said other
solutions were possible but insisted “the problem has been running for a long
time and hasn’t been sorted out”.
Rwanda will host the Commonwealth summit on Friday
and Saturday, and Kagame praised the 54-nation group.
He said it helps “direct attention to challenges”
facing smaller, developing countries, and that there would be “meaningful”
meetings at the summit.
Read more Region and World
Jordan News
.jpg)
.jpg)
