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Rwanda President Kagame speaks on UK deal, denies allegations of human trafficking

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Rwanda President Paul Kagame, has finally spoken out on the controversy a migrant transfer deal with the UK has been generating, saying the insinuations that his country is trading on people is false as the aim of the deal is actually to help the migrants.

Under the deal which was finalised by the UK earlier this week, asylum seekers who arrive in the UK on small boats will be relocated to Rwanda for processing and possible resettlement.

The deal worth a whopping £120m ($15m) to the East African country has drawn global condemnation and criticism for the countries with the Rwandan government accused of accepting the deal because of the money involved.

But Kagame, in his first comment since the deal was brokered, said it was a mistake for people to think Rwanda was just getting money for the migrants by trading on them.

“We are not trading human beings, please, we are actually helping them,” he said during a virtual seminar with US’s Brown University.

He added that the UK approached Rwanda because of “what we managed in the Libyan case” when he, as Chairman of the African Union in 2018, offered shelter to migrants stuck in Libya while trying to cross to Europe.

“Nearly 1,000 migrants were brought to Rwanda for processing, with two-thirds of them being relocated to European countries and Canada,” he said.

The Rwandan President said rather than criticizing his country, Rwanda should be praised for helping to deal with migrant smuggling, noting that the UK wanted “an orderly way of sorting out people they’ll accept and others they can say no to.”

Metro

South Africa slams 54 fraud, immigration charges on Rwandan genocide suspect

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One of the most wanted Rwandan Genocide suspects, Fulgence Kayishema has been slammed with a 54-count charge by South African prosecutors, including fraud and immigration charges.

Kayishema, an ex-Rwandan police officer who is wanted internationally over his alleged role in Rwanda’s 1994 genocide, was arraigned at a Cape Town court on Friday.

After being on the run for over two decades, Kayishema was arrested on May 24 on a grape farm in South Africa where he had been hiding under a false name, according to a prosecutor, who said refugees working in the farm gave him up.

Spokesperson of the South African prosecutors, Eric Ntabazalila, who addressed a press conference outside the court, said the fugitive now faced 54 separate charges relating to fraud and immigration offences, up from five previously preferred against him.

Kayishema had been a fugitive from justice since 2001, when the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR) indicted him for genocide for allegedly ordering the massacre of 2,000 people hiding in the Nyange Catholic Church,” Ntabazalila told journalists.

Some of the charges could see Kayishema imprisoned for up to 15 years, said Ntabazalila.

South Africa’s National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) also allege that Kayishema used a false identity to apply for asylum and refugee status in South Africa.

The case was adjourned to June 20 to allow Kayishema’s defence team to consult, at which point he could apply for bail, while he is also expected to face extradition to Rwanda to be tried over the ICTR genocide indictment.

With Kayishema’s arrest, there are only three indicted fugitives still on the run after a sweeping indictment by the international tribunal.

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US, WFP, USAID suspend food aid to Ethiopia

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The United States along with the World Food Program (WFP) and the USAID have suspended food aid to Ethiopia following allegations of theft and diversion by government officials.

The WFP and the USAID announced the suspension on Friday, a day after the US government announced that it was suspending the programme due to the same reasons.

WFP Executive Director, Cindy McCain, who made the announcement early on Friday, said the suspension was temporary, until a full investigation was conducted by the Ethiopian government.

“We will temporarily cease food aid in Ethiopia, but nutritional assistance to children, pregnant and lactating women, school meals programs and activities to strengthen farmers and herders in the face of external shocks will continue without interruption,” McCain said in a press release.

Diversion of food is absolutely unacceptable. The Ethiopian government’s commitment to investigate and hold those responsible accountable is welcomed.

“WFP is working closely with its UN partners, humanitarian organizations and local actors to reform the way aid is distributed across Ethiopia,” she added.

On Thursday, the US government’s international aid agency, USAID, had announced the suspension of its food aid to Ethiopia, while denouncing a “widespread and coordinated operation to divert.”

“USAID intends to immediately resume food aid as soon as we have confidence in the integrity of the distribution systems to get aid to its intended recipients,” the agency had said.

In a joint statement with the USAID, Ethiopian authorities assured that a joint investigation was underway “so that the perpetrators of these hijackings are accountable.”

According to the UN humanitarian agency (OCHA), more than 20 million people of the 120 million Ethiopian population, about 16%, depend on food aid due to conflicts or recurring drought in the region which has also displaced 4.6 million people in the country.

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