Refugees in Rwanda to UK asylum-seekers: There’s not much here

Great Britain is preparing to send its first group of asylum-seekers to Rwanda amid outcries and legal challenges. Now refugees who arrived in the East African country under earlier arrangements are deploring a lack of opportunities there.

By Ignatius Suuna Associated Press

KIGALI, RWANDA

As Britain plans to send its first group of asylum-seekers to Rwanda on Tuesday amid outcries and legal challenges, some who came to this East African country under earlier arrangements tell The Associated Press the new arrivals can expect a difficult time ahead.

“Sometimes I play football and in the evening I drink because I have nothing to do,” said Faisal, a 20-year-old from Ethiopia who was relocated to Rwanda from Libya in 2019 in the first group of refugees resettled under a deal with the United Nations. “I pray daily to God that I leave this place.”

Giving only his first name out of fear of retaliation, he remains at the Gashora center built to house refugees who had languished in Libya while trying to reach Europe. Gashora is called a transit center, but some like Faisal see nowhere to go.  Read more »