KIGALI, Jan 28 (Reuters) - Rwanda has filed an arbitration case against Britain over the cancellation of an asylum deal by Prime Minister Keir Starmer in 2024, the government of the East African nation said.
Under the scheme, signed before Starmer took office, Britain agreed to pay Rwanda to take in migrants who had arrived illegally in Britain. It only managed to send four people voluntarily to Rwanda as legal challenges stalled the plan.
Rwanda has submitted a notice to the Hague-based Permanent Court of Arbitration, arguing Britain had breached the financial arrangements of the "migration partnership", its government said in a statement on X on Tuesday.
It added that Britain had asked it in 2024 to forgo two payments of 50 million pounds ($69 million) due in April 2025 and April 2026 in anticipation of the formal termination of the treaty underlying the deal.
Rwanda said it was prepared to agree, provided the treaty was terminated and new financial terms were negotiated and agreed.
"Discussions between Rwanda and the United Kingdom did not, however, ultimately take place, and the amounts remain due and payable under the treaty," the Kigali government added.
A spokesperson for Starmer told reporters on Tuesday: "The Rwanda scheme was a complete disaster, it wasted 700 million pounds of taxpayer cash to return just four volunteers."
"We will robustly defend our position to protect British taxpayers and we are getting on with the job of focusing on effective ways to stamp out illegal migration, not costly gimmicks."
Relations between Britain and Rwanda soured last year when London paused some aid over the Rwandan role in the war in Democratic Republic of Congo.
Rwanda has faced global pressure over accusations that it supports the M23 rebel group in eastern Congo.
Kigali denies backing M23 and has blamed Congolese and Burundian forces for renewed fighting that has killed thousands and displaced hundreds of thousands in the past year.
($1=0.7245 pounds)
(Reporting by Philbert Girinema and Elias Biryabarema; editing by Alexander Winning, Clarence Fernandez and Mark Heinrich)
