UK prime minister Boris Johnson is planning to avoid visiting the accommodation in Kigali where migrants deported from the UK would be sent under the faltering policy, so why is he travelling to the East African nation?
The first flight removing people to Rwanda was due to take off last week, but was grounded by successful legal challenges before a full hearing on the scheme’s legality in UK courts.
The policy is one element of a £120 million ($147m) deal with Kigali, but has been widely criticised, in part because of concerns about Rwanda’s human rights record.
“You will know that the prime minister’s time is always limited and to make time to do that he would therefore have to leave elements of the programme whereby he’s working with a unique set of world leaders on quite crucial issues,” his spokesman said.
“We think that the best use of his time for this short period he’s in Rwanda is to dedicate himself to some of the issues that will be raised at the summit and to work with other world leaders on some of those issues we’ve talked about, not least Ukraine and global security.”
Downing Street said it was likely that Mr Johnson would discuss the plans with Rwandan President Paul Kagame but stressed there was a “host of other issues to discuss”.
What is Chogm?
The Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting, starting on June 26, typically takes place every two years but is being hosted in Kigali after a delay forced by the coronavirus pandemic.
It is a chance for the leaders of the 54 Commonwealth nations, most of them former British colonies, to discuss their shared interests and make decisions about their future.
So it is somewhat of a coincidence that Mr Johnson is there while his asylum policy is in disarray thanks to a European Court of Human Rights decision, ahead of a full ruling in the UK.
Prince Charles is in the capital Kigali representing Queen Elizabeth II as the head of the Commonwealth.
What will the PM discuss with Prince Charles?
Mr Johnson will hold talks with the Prince of Wales in Rwanda after the heir to the throne’s reported criticism of the policy sending asylum seekers there on a one-way ticket.
The meeting between him and Prince Charles will be the first time they have spoken since the service for the queen’s platinum jubilee.
It was later reported that Prince Charles has privately described the policy of sending asylum seekers who arrive in the UK after unauthorised journeys as “appalling” .
“They are due to meet. Obviously they will encounter each other during the summit but they are due to have a bilateral discussion as well,” the prime minister’s official spokesman said.
What is the PM hoping to achieve?
Mr Johnson wants to focus on tackling the food and energy insecurity caused by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, with some Commonwealth nations feared to be particularly vulnerable.
Other key issues he wants to discuss are green economic growth, boosting girls’ education and increasing trade opportunities.
As well as the banquet and wider talks with Commonwealth leaders, Mr Johnson will hold one-on-one chats with key allies.
What else will happen at the summit?
They may not be the most attention-grabbing, but there are key decisions to be made about the future of the political association.
The next secretary general must be chosen, and Mr Johnson hopes to remove the incumbent, Labour peer Baroness Scotland, who is running for a second term.
He supports Jamaican Foreign Minister Kamina Johnson Smith, and UK officials are confident he will get his way.
Mr Johnson said Ms Johnson Smith will have the “vast experience and support to unite our unique family of nations and seize the opportunities ahead”.
Officials are privately critical of Baroness Scotland, questioning whether she has provided effective or unified leadership.
Leaders are also expected to admit a new member state, Togo, while it is possible Gabon could also join. The UK backs adding both to the Commonwealth family.
Who else is accompanying Boris Johnson on the visit?
The prime minister’s wife, Carrie Johnson, will join him at the summit and is expected to take part in a programme of events for partners.
Foreign Secretary Liz Truss will also be there, as will Alok Sharma, the president of the Cop26 climate summit.
What is the backdrop to the visit?
Mr Johnson hoped the Rwanda policy would prevent the at-times deadly crossings of the English Channel made by thousands of people crammed into small boats each year.
He hoped the deal brokered with Kigali by Home Secretary Priti Patel would provide a disincentive for the journeys, while those who do make the crossings could find asylum in Rwanda if approved.
The government always knew it would attract legal challenges, and those challenges ultimately prevented the first flight from taking off last week.
Ministers had anticipated about 130 people to be on board but lawsuits reduced this to only seven or fewer on the day of take-off.
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British Home Secretary Priti Patel has challenged opponents of her plan to send migrants to Rwanda to come up with a better idea to tackle small-boat crossings in the Channel. PA -
A rescuer carries a child as migrants are brought in to Dover, Kent, after a small-boat incident in the English Channel. PA -
Under the new proposals, asylum seekers who try to enter the UK through the English Channel route from France will be flown to Rwanda in Africa on a one-way ticket. PA -
A migrant found at sea while attempting to cross the English Channel boards a bus to be taken for processing in Dover. AFP -
A border force officer parks a dingy used to carry migrants at Dover Port. Getty Images -
The number of migrants who have reached the UK by crossing the English Channel has topped 6,000 so far this year, official figures showed. Getty Images -
British navy ship 'HMS Tyne' on patrol in the English Channel off the coast of Dover. PA -
A group of people thought to be migrants are brought in to Dover, Kent, on board a Border Force vessel. PA
Then the European Court of Human Rights granted an interim injunction barring the removal of an Iraqi asylum seeker until a decision on the legality of the government’s policy is made in UK courts.
The court in Strasbourg removed two others from the plane, while the Supreme Court granted injunctions preventing the immediate removal of three others.
Now the government is trying to introduce a Bill of Rights that would confirm that measures such as the one issued over the Rwanda policy are not binding on UK courts.
Who is Paul Kagame?
Mr Kagame has been lauded by the international community for his role in ending the 1994 genocide during the civil war.
Hutu extremists slaughtered about 800,000 Tutsis and moderate Hutus in only 100 days.
That came to an end when Mr Kagame’s Rwandan Patriotic Front rebel group seized Kigali.
But his regime has since been accused of political repression, assassinations and imprisoning critics.
Amnesty International UK’s refugee and migrants rights director, Steve Valdez-Symonds, accused the government of “effectively supporting the continued repression of people in Rwanda under president Kagame’s regime” with the asylum policy.
“No country should be casting off its asylum responsibilities on to another, still less to a country such as Rwanda with a troubling human rights record alongside existing large-scale asylum responsibilities of its own,” Mr Valdez-Symonds said.
“In recent years, Rwanda has been the scene of enforced disappearances, numerous allegations of torture, excessive use of force by the police, and serious violations of the right to a fair trial and the right to free expression.”
The prime minister’s official spokesman said he was expected to “raise human rights issues as he has done in the past”.
“We want Rwanda to uphold and champion the Commonwealth values, democracy, the rule of law and respect for human rights," the official said.
"And we want due process for all those in detention and fair and transparent application of the rule of law."
Mr Kagame may want to ask Mr Johnson why no asylum flights have arrived in Kigali two months after the deal was signed.
Boris Johnson through the years - in pictures
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Boris Johnson has had an eventful time during his life in politics and journalism. Here, 'The National' looks back at his life in pictures. Getty Images -
Mr Johnson attends the coronation ceremony of Britain's King Charles III at Westminster Abbey in May. Getty Images -
Mr Johnson leaves his home to attend a televised evidence session in March in front of the Commons Privileges Committee. Getty Images -
Mr Johnson listening to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy address parliamentarians in Westminster Hall in February. Getty Images -
Mr Johnson and Carrie Johnson arrive at Westminster Abbey for the state funeral of Queen Elizabeth II in September 2022. Getty Images -
Mr Johnson he announces his resignation as prime minister outside 10 Downing Street in July 2022. Getty Images -
Mr Johnson at a press conference in response to the publication of the Sue Gray report into Partygate at Downing Street in May 2022. Getty Images -
Mr Johnson reads the long-awaited report by senior civil servant Sue Gray into the Downing Street party scandal, in his Downing Street office in May 2022. Photo: Downing Street -
Mr Johnson and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy in central Kyiv in April 2022. The British prime minister paid an unannounced visit to Kyiv in a show of solidarity with Ukraine. AFP -
Mr Johnson watches an early morning police raid on a home in Liverpool as part of an operation to thwart drug dealing, in December, 2021. Getty Images -
The prime minister battles with his umbrella while with Prince Charles at The National Memorial Arboretum in July 2021, in Stafford, England. Getty Images -
Mr Johnson and his wife before the Uefa European Championship final between Italy and England at Wembley Stadium, London, in July last year. Getty Images -
The British prime minister with US President Joe Biden, European Council President Charles Michel, former Japanese prime minister Yoshihide Suga and Italian Prime Minister Mario Draghi during the G7 Summit in Cornwall, in June 2021. Getty Images -
Mr Johnson with his wife Carrie in the garden of 10 Downing Street after their wedding at Westminster Cathedral, in May last year. Getty Images -
Boris Johnson visits Hartlepool after Conservative Party candidate Jill Mortimer won a parliamentary by-election in May, 2021. Getty Images -
The prime minister after receiving the first dose of the AstraZeneca vaccine at St Thomas' Hospital in London in March, 2021. Getty Images -
Boris Johnson after signing a Brexit trade deal with the EU in December 2020. Getty Images -
Mr Johnson examines a vial of the AstraZeneca Covid-19 candidate vaccine, at a pharmaceutical manufacturing facility in Wrexham, Wales, in November 2020. Getty -
Mr Johnson demonstrating the two-metre distancing rule during his visit to St Joseph's Catholic Primary School in Upminster, East London, in August 2020. PA -
In this photo, published alongside the Sue Gray report into the Partygate affair, Mr Johnson is seen at a gathering in the Cabinet Room in 10 Downing Street on his birthday in June, 2020. Getty Images -
Mr Johnson and former chancellor Rishi Sunak use hand sanitiser during a visit to the Pizza Pilgrims restaurant in June 2020, in east London, to see how they are getting their business ready to reopen as coronavirus lockdown restrictions were lifted in England. PA -
Mr Johnson and his fiancee Carrie Symonds applaud key workers outside 10 Downing Street in May 2020, during the coronavirus pandemic. Getty Images -
Mr Johnson in the Cabinet Room observing a minute's silence in April 2020 in a tribute to the health staff and key workers who died during the coronavirus outbreak. PA -
Boris Johnson appears on monitors for a meeting in March 2020. The prime minister chaired morning meetings on the coronavirus remotely from Number 11 Downing Street, while self-isolating after testing positive for the virus. Reuters -
Members of a family listen as BMr ris Johnson makes a televised address to the nation from 10 Downing Street in March 2020, where he outlined the latest instructions to stay at home to help contain the Covid-19 outbreak. AFP -
Mr Johnson speaks to British troops stationed in Estonia during a one-day visit to the Baltic country in December 2019. Getty Images -
Mr Johnson and Carrie Symonds enter Downing Street as the Conservatives celebrate a sweeping election victory in December 2019. Getty -
Boris Johnson is greeted by staff at 10 Downing Street after meeting Queen Elizabeth II and accepting her invitation to form a new government in December 2012. PA -
Former US president Donald Trump and Mr Johnson arrive for a bilateral meeting during the G7 summit in August 2019 in Biarritz, France. Getty -
The queen welcomes Mr Johnson as the newly elected leader of the Conservative Party, during an audience in July 2019. Getty Images -
Mr Johnson, then Britain's foreign secretary, stands in front of St Basil's Cathedral during a visit to Moscow's Red Square in December 2017. Getty -
Mr Johnson collides with a child during a Street Rugby tournament in Tokyo in 2015, held to mark Japan hosting the 2019 Rugby World Cup -
As mayor of London Mr Johnson competes in a tug-of-war in October 2015. Getty Images -
The Olympic Flag is passed from Mr Johnson to IOC President Jacques Rogge during the closing ceremony of the London 2012 Olympic Games. Getty Images -
Mayor of London Boris Johnson with Prime Minister David Cameron during the lighting of the Paralympic Cauldron in Trafalgar Square, in August 2012. PA -
Boris Johnson gets stuck on a zip-line during a BT London Live event in Victoria Park in August 2012. Getty -
Mr Johnson and Lord Sebastian Coe cheer as a giant set of Olympic rings is displayed from Tower Bridge in June 2012, Getty Images -
Mr Johnson gestures attends a Harry Potter studio tour of Diagon Alley, at the Warner Brother Studios, London, in December 2011. AP Photo -
Mr Johnson at the launch of London's first cycle hire scheme in July 2010. Getty Images -
Mr Johnson with artists' impressions of the design for London's new Routemaster bus in May 2010. Getty Images -
The candidates to be mayor of London; Labour's Ken Livingstone, Conservative Boris Johnson and Liberal Democrat Brian Paddick, being questioned on BBC's 'Newsnight' programme in April 2008. Getty Images -
Boris Johnson on the North Pier in Blackpool during the Conservative Party conference there in October 2005. Getty Images -
Mr Johnson at his desk in 2000 while he was a journalist for 'The Telegraph'. Getty Images -
Mr Johnson when he was president of the Oxford Union society speaking to the Greek minister for culture Melina Mercouri when she addressed the union. Reuters -
Boris Johnson in September 1979, at Eton School. Shutterstock
