Rwanda receives first 7 deportees from US

KIGALI, Rwanda

Rwanda confirmed on Thursday that the first group of seven migrants from the US arrived in the country, weeks after authorities said the government had accepted to take 250 deportees.

“The first group of seven vetted migrants arrived in Rwanda in mid-August," government spokesperson Yolande Makolo told local media.

The Foreign Ministry declined to give details about their nationalities when contacted by Anadolu.

But Makolo told The New Times, a government-leaning newspaper, that the migrants are accommodated by an international organization and the International Organization on Migration (IOM) visits them.

She said three of the deportees expressed a desire to be repatriated to their home countries, while four prefer to start new lives in Rwanda.

“Regardless of their specific needs, all of these individuals will receive appropriate support and protection from the Rwandan government,” she said.

Rwanda joined other African countries – Uganda, Eswatini and South Sudan – which have agreed to take deportees from the US since President Donald Trump’s administration turned to Africa as a destination.

In return, sources said, the US could pay Rwanda in the form of a grant.

Uganda this month became the latest African country to have reached a “temporary” agreement with the US to accept third-country nationals who are denied asylum in the US.

In July, Trump used his meeting with the presidents of Gabon, Guinea-Bissau, Liberia, Mauritania and Senegal to ask each of the leaders to take in third-country migrants deported from the U.S.

The response from African countries has been mixed with some accepting but others such as Nigeria refused to bow to pressure to accept deported Venezuelans from the US.