Rwanda takes legal case against the UK

London has breached its commitments by not giving prior notice before scrapping an asylum deal, Kigali has said

Rwanda has launched legal actions against the UK, accusing it of failing to honor financial commitments to the East African country under a controversial asylum deal that was later scrapped.

The government said on Tuesday that Kigali filed a notice of arbitration with the Netherlands-based Permanent Court of Arbitration last November over the Migration and Economic Development Partnership (MEDP) dispute.

According to Kigali, Britain has breached the agreement in multiple ways, including failures to honor agreed financial arrangements and “by refusing to make arrangements to resettle vulnerable refugees from Rwanda.”

“Rwanda regrets that it has been necessary to pursue these claims in arbitration, but faced with the United Kingdom’s intransigence on these issues, it has been left with no other choice,” it said in a statement.

The MEDP was originally announced in April 2022 under British Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s government, and involved a five-year agreement for people arriving in the UK illegally to be sent to Rwanda for processing and resettlement.

READ MORE: Rwanda demands $63 million from UK – media

The partnership faced repeated legal and political setbacks, with UK courts blocking deportation flights on human rights grounds. Prime Minister Keir Starmer declared the plan “dead and buried” upon taking office in July 2024. Starmer claimed that the scheme had “never served as a deterrent” to illegal immigration and would ultimately deport “less than 1%” of those arriving on small boats.

According to the National Audit Office, Britain’s spending watchdog, £220 million had been paid to the African country by February 2024.

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“In November 2024, the United Kingdom requested that Rwanda forgo two payments of £50 million that were due in April 2025 and April 2026,” the African state said on Tuesday.

Kigali added that the British Prime Minister announced the deal’s termination “without prior notice to Rwanda, contrary to the spirit of the partnership that had always characterized the MEDP” despite a clause stating that “each party may terminate this agreement by giving notice to the other party in writing.”

The Rwandan government said it was prepared to renegotiate financial terms with Britain, but talks between the two countries had failed to materialize.