Rwanda ambassador: Suella Braverman ‘absolutely
wrong’ on immigration
The home secretary faces embarrassment after a covert
sting operation filmed criticism of UK policy by a top official
Jon
Ungoed-Thomas
Sat 30 Sep
2023 19.39 BST
The home
secretary, Suella Braverman, faces embarrassment over her immigration policy
after the ambassador for Rwanda was filmed in an undercover sting claiming the
UK government’s position is “absolutely wrong”.
Johnston
Busingye, high commissioner of Rwanda, backs the UK government’s plan to send
asylum seekers to his country, but said ministers needed to examine the driving
forces of migration. He said it was “immoral” for Britain to claim to be a
compassionate country.
Busingye
was covertly filmed in a meeting in a London club in an investigation by the
campaign group Led By Donkeys conducted with the journalist Antony Barnett. The
ambassador was told he was meeting a businessman from a south-east Asian
company wanting to invest in his country.
His
scathing comments are published after Braverman last week called for reform of
the global migration system, warning uncontrolled migration was an “existential
challenge” to western nations.
The
investigation also raises new questions over the government plan to send asylum
seekers to Rwanda and its record on human rights. The court of appeal ruled in
June the plan was unlawful and the government has appealed to the supreme
court, with a hearing in October.
Busingye
appeared to speak dismissively about evidence that 12 refugees were shot dead
by police in Rwanda in 2018. He said: “Yes, it might have happened, but so
what?” The ambassador said this weekend in response to questions from the
Observer that the fatal shootings in western Rwanda were a tragedy.
During the
meeting at the Travellers Club in St James’s in August, he was asked what he
would say to the prime minister or home secretary about the UK’s immigration
policy. He responded by saying he would tell them it was “absolutely wrong”.
“They
should have a long-term idea,” he said. “They should have a long-term policy of
making it a choice for people not to risk their lives coming to the UK. Because
right now, many people are not coming here because of war in their country. No,
they’re coming here because they are hopeless. They’re coming here because they
have no future.”
He said it
was “immoral” for the UK to regard itself as a compassionate country. “[It] is
immoral for this country to still see themselves as the refugee country, the
solace country, the protection country, the compassion country,” he said. “They
enslaved millions of people for 400 years. They destroyed India, they destroyed
China, they destroyed Africa.”
The
ambassador seemed perturbed over the media coverage of the fatal shootings of
Congolese refugees protesting outside a UN high commissioner for refugees
office in the Karongi district over cuts to food rations in February 2018.
He said:
“Well, there is an incident in 2012 where the police shot 10 refugees. Yes, it
might have happened, but so what? Here in the UK, someone is shot every day and
it is on BBC and it is everywhere.”
The
ambassador said this weekend that he got the year of the shootings wrong. The
reported number of dead is at least 12, according to reports compiled by Human
Rights Watch.
During the
meeting, the ambassador appeared reluctant to give a categorical assurance that
any refugees transported to Rwanda from the UK would never be returned to their
home country.
He said:
“Even if it happened, in the unlikely event that it happened, how many times
would it happen? And in broad daylight? We have a double British and Rwandan
supervisory committee. It’s very independent.” Busingye was confirmed as high
commissioner for Rwanda, an ambassadorial-level appointment, in March 2022,
despite opposition from some MPs, including former Tory leaderIain Duncan
Smith.
Busingye
was justice minister when Paul Rusesabagina, whose efforts in saving more than
1,200 people from death were documented in the film Hotel Rwanda, was allegedly
abducted and detained on charges including terrorism by the Rwandan government
in August 2020 after being tricked into taking a chartered flight from Dubai to
Rwanda.
Led By
Donkeys set up a fake south-east Asian company and approached the public
affairs agency Chelgate about investing in Rwanda. The London-based business
has links to the Rwandan government, and its chairman, Terence Fane-Saunders,
advised Busingye during the international condemnation over Rusesabagina’s
detention. He was freed in March after his 25-year sentence was commuted.
In an
initial online meeting, Fane-Saunders, who was unaware the person he was
speaking to was a fake businessman and part of a sting, explained the work he
and his agency had done for the Rwandan government.
It included
media training, arranging visits for journalists and advising Busingye when he
was justice minister for a television interview with Al Jazeera on the
detention of Rusesabagina. The footage of this session was later inadvertently
sent to Al Jazeera.Fane-Saunders said in the online call he considered
Rusesabagina had been kidnapped. He said: “The Rwandan intelligence service had
heard he had chartered this plane…and they arranged with the plane that it
should stop over in Kigali… It was quite funny. The definition of a kidnap. I
mean, I think technically it was a kidnap.”
The veteran
public affairs executive also said Chelgate had helped arrange trips to Rwanda
for journalists, but those who were thought to be critical were not invited. He
said: “We haven’t organised a trip for any hostile critics out to Rwanda,” he
said. “They would just be digging for negative stuff. “
In March
2023, Braverman faced criticism that an official press trip to Rwanda excluded
some media organisations, including the Guardian, the Daily Mirror and the BBC.
Chelgate said it was not representing the Rwandan government at the time of the
trip in March.
Fane-Saunders
offered to arrange a meeting between the “businessman” and the ambassador
during the online call in August. He also attended the lunch meeting with
Busingye and the “businessman” at the Travellers Club that month.
Fane-Saunders
said Chelgate does not currently work for the Rwandan government or represent
it and his comments during the online meeting were made in a personal capacity.
He said he was speaking “privately and informally” and the recording was made
without permission.
He said
neither he nor his company had a professional relationship with Rwanda, the
Rwandan government or any of its representatives.
Busingye
said in a statement to the Observer: “My comments about the short-term approach
to migration is applicable to all nations in the global north.” He said
countries needed to invest strategically in countries fuelling migration and
the Migration and Economic Development Partnership (MEDP) between the UK and
Rwanda was “an important first step in addressing the imbalance in
opportunities”.
When asked
why he considered it immoral for the UK to call itself a compassionate country,
he said: “No country can claim to be wholly compassionate at all times. What’s
important is how we set about addressing the wrongs of the past.”
He said the
MEDP sought to do that and it had his full backing. He said no asylum seeker
relocated from the UK would be forced back to their country of origin.
With regard
to the shootings of refugees, he said that it was an isolated incident that had
been fully investigated. He said: “Lessons have been learned by all relevant
parties to ensure there are no repeats of such an incident.
“Rwanda has
a well-established track record of providing safety, security, and opportunity
for refugees.”
A UK
government spokesperson said: “We need innovative solutions to stop the boats
and break the business model of the people-smuggling gangs – including our new
Illegal Migration Act and our Migration and Economic Development Partnership
with Rwanda.
“We remain
fully committed to this policy, as does the Rwandan government. We will
continue to defend the policy robustly in the courts.”
The investigation by Led By Donkeys can be
seen at youtube.com/@LedByDonkeys
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