*Suella Braverman, United Kingdom Home Secretary, has confirmed the government in Kigali said it was ‘ready to absorb the thousands that will come from the UK’

Isola Moses | ConsumerConnect

Ms. Suella Braverman Home Secretary of the United Kingdom (UK), has affirmed the country’s preparedness to deport migrants to Rwanda by summer as country.

Stressing that Rwanda is also ‘ready to take thousands’, Braverman has already visited housing sites around Kigali to this effect.

Ms. Braverman (2nd left) interacting with some Rwandan officials at the accommodations for the incoming deportees during her recent visit to the African country   Photo: Anadolu Agency

ConsumerConnect learnt  Braverman landed in Rwanda for first visit after asylum deal with the African country.

According to her, the government in Kigali said it was “ready to absorb the thousands that will come from the UK.”

A Home Office source said “we are certainly working towards getting the flights off before the summer”, adding that the home secretary acknowledged the schedule was dependent on pending legal battles, PA report said.

In her first trip to the central African nation as home secretary, Ms Braverman Saturday, March 18 visited facilities being built to house people removed from Britain.

Addressing reporters in the country’s capital, she said she would wait for a Court of Appeal hearing on the policy April before deciding whether flights could depart by summer.

It was learnt the UK Government had expanded the agreement with Rwanda to incorporate all those illegally entering the UK as opposed to solely asylum seekers.

Meanwhile, besides deportation to Rwanda, the two countries are expected to strike the deal to ensure illegal entrants would be detained and swiftly removed under the Illegal Migration Bill, regardless of the claim they bring – whether that be asylum, human rights, modern slavery or none.

No migrants have been relocated to the country so far after the deal was signed last April by Ms Braverman’s predecessor Priti Patel, and several people from countries including Iran, Iraq and Syria have launched challenges against plans to send them there, report said.

This, after last Saturday’s tour of potential housing facilities in Rwanda, Ms. Braverman declared: “I think that Rwanda is clearly ready.”

In the deportation arrangement, migrants arriving from the UK would be housed in hostels and hotels in the short term, before moving onto long-term housing arrangements, with properties equipped with gardens, off-street parking and capacity for fibre-optic broadband.

Deportation and UK’s criticisms of human rights abuses elsewhere

Asked if the migration deal affected Britain’s ability to criticise the country on other issues, such as human rights, Braverman said there was a “gross misperception about Rwanda in the UK”, and that it was a “forward-looking dynamic economy” and a safe country.

Rwanda Government Spokesperson Yolande Makolo also told reporters she did not “consider living in Rwanda as punishment.”

Makolo stated the African country signed up to the agreement for “the right reasons”.

The government’s Spokesperson said: “We are going to be ready to absorb the thousands that will come from the UK along the life of this partnership. We’re determined to make this a success.”