Multiple European Union governments have begun talks with Rwanda to potentially open migrant return hubs in the African country, Kigali has revealed.
In the wake of the EU Parliament paving the way for opening up migrant return centres in third-party countries outside of the bloc to reduce the strain and disincentivise illegal immigration, Giorgia Meloni’s Italy and other EU nations opened talks with Rwanda as a potential first location.
The scheme was first put forward by the former Tory government in Britain, which previously inked a deal with Rwanda to house illegal migrants. However, the plan was delayed by years of legal wrangling with the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) and ultimately scrapped before it could begin when the left-wing Labour Party came into power last year.
According to a report from the EU-funded InfoMigrants news site, Rwandan government spokeswoman Yolande Makolo said that Kigali has already held “some initial discussions with some European countries” on the prospect of opening up migrant return hubs in her country. However, she noted that “nothing has been decided” as of yet.
Following the mass invasion of the Spanish North African territory of Ceuta late last month, Italy and Denmark have pressed for the EU to urgently adopt and invest in a return hub strategy.
In addition to Rwanda, Rome has suggested partnering with countries such as Ethiopia, Ghana, Mauritania, Senegal, or Uganda in Africa, or even Montenegro and Uzbekistan in Central Asia, to open migrant holding centres. Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni has shown some success in negotiating migrant deals with African governments and is seeking to build on that success as she heads into a contentious re-election campaign next year.
However, despite the apparent willingness of African governments to make a deal to open up migrant return centres — which would likely come with some financial or trade consideration in return — there have been two notable holdouts in Europe to the idea: the socialist government of Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez in Spain and the neo-liberal government of President Emmanuel Macron in France.
Macron has even said that he would look to block European Union funds from being directed to any such project, arguing that migrant return hubs go against the ethics of “Europe” and that it would make the EU look bad in Africa if they were seen caring more about illegal immigration into their countries rather than human trafficking in Africa.
Yet, with anti-mass migration parties leading in both the upcoming elections in France and Spain, it remains to be seen how long the opposition from Madrid and Paris will last.
Meanwhile, in the United Kingdom, which attempted to pioneer such a migrant return hub scheme, Reform UK leader Nigel Farage has opened up talks with Nayib Bukele’s government in El Salvador to send foreign criminals to jails in El Salvador should his party come to power in London at the next general election.
Mr Farage, who expressed doubt over the Rwandan scheme of the Tory party due to Britain’s continued membership within the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR) — prescient given the ECHR’s role in dooming the plan — has also vowed to withdraw from the Convention and to deploy the Royal Navy to push back migrants to the beaches of France.