GASHORA, Rwanda — At a sprawling complex of brick-row houses and gleaming new apartment blocks in this town wedged between two small lakes, hundreds of Africans have found what they could not elsewhere: refuge after enduring servitude and torture in Libya.
The fenced facility in Gashora, about 40 miles south of Rwanda’s capital, Kigali, offering stark, clean rooms with double beds, is a way station for refugees awaiting asylum or resettlement elsewhere. And it is a symbol of the government’s efforts to position Rwanda as a country with a solution to the global migration crisis.
At a time when Western nations are adopting increasingly tough stances against migrants, the tiny nation of Rwanda has opened its borders to refugees, striking deals with European countries like Britain and Denmark to house deported asylum seekers.
Rwanda’s president, Paul Kagame, has said his government is motivated by altruism and a moral responsibility to provide a solution to “a very complicated problem all over the world.”
But critics say the country is seeking to benefit financially and geopolitically from the arrangements, and is offering itself as a refuge to deflect attention from its problematic record on human rights.
The migration deals with the West are part of “Rwanda’s drive to launder its image abroad,” said Toni Haastrup, a professor of international politics at the University of Stirling in Britain.
Playing volleyball at the center in Gashora. Rwanda houses tens of thousands of refugees from neighboring Burundi and the Democratic Republic of Congo. Brian Otieno for The New York Times
Rwanda, a landlocked nation with lush, undulating terrain, is one of the smallest, most densely populated countries in Africa. Mr. Kagame has been the de facto leader of this nation of 13 million since the end of the 1994 genocide, in which up to one million people were massacred in 100 days. Since then, he has transformed the nation into an ambitious state that punches above its weight politically, economically and on the security front.
Mr. Kagame has also positioned Rwanda as a major host of African refugees. The country houses tens of thousands of refugees from countries like Burundi, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Eritrea, Somalia and Sudan. It has received hundreds of other African refugees expelled from Israel and has welcomed Afghan schoolgirls fleeing the Taliban. Now, Rwanda wants to be a close partner to Western nations desperate to curb illegal migration.
This comes despite the fact Rwanda has jailed and threatened to expel refugees. The country has denied refuge to L.G.B.T.Q. asylum seekers. Activists say the asylum partnerships are simply meant to buttress the reputation of Mr. Kagame, whose almost three-decade rule has come under increasing scrutiny for suppressing political dissent and free speech.
In April, the government of Boris Johnson, then Britain’s prime minister, announced a deal to send asylum seekers to Rwanda in the hope of reducing the number of people crossing the English Channel. In exchange, Rwanda would receive 120 million pounds in economic development programs. Denmark last year also signed a three-year pact with Rwanda to enhance cooperation on migration, and in August sealed an agreement aimed at establishing an asylum center in Kigali.
Both deals have brought into sharp focus offshore migrant processing and raised questions about what responsibility wealthy nations have to refugees fleeing persecution or hunger. In the United States, Republican governors upset by the Biden administration’s handling of illegal immigration have bused or flown thousands of migrants to liberal-leaning territories. The mayor of New York City on Friday declared a state of emergency amid an influx of migrants from Latin America.
Abubakar Ishaq, 35, who fled Sudan’s Darfur region and is staying at the transit center in Rwanda, says his goal is to make it to Europe. Brian Otieno for The New York Times
Britain’s plan has generated legal challenges, with critics pointing to court evidence showing that even British diplomats in Kigali recommended against using Rwanda because of its dismal human rights record, its efforts in “recruiting refugees to conduct armed operations in neighboring countries” and claims it has carried out extrajudicial killings, forced disappearances and torture.
“Our government is simply lying when they say Rwanda is safe for refugees,” Clare Moseley, founder of Care4Calais, one of the British charities suing to stop the deportations, said in an interview. The evidence, she said, shows “there is absolutely no doubt that this policy was a brutal and very morally wrong thing to do.”
A ruling by the European Court of Human Rights grounded Britain’s first flight to spirit asylum seekers to Rwanda in June. (Although Britain is no longer a member of the European Union, it accepts judgments from the European Court of Human Rights.) In September, the plan was challenged in London’s High Court by asylum seekers, immigrant rights groups and the labor union representing the British border staff expected to carry out the policy.
Academics and rights groups criticized the plan for prioritizing short-term financial incentives instead of exploring long-term, sustainable solutions to the migration crisis. Advocacy groups deplored the memorandum of understanding between Britain and Rwanda, saying it had not been approved by Parliament.
Critics, including the United Nations’ refugee agency, say Britain’s deportation policy violates international law and would not deter those risking the dangerous journey through the English Channel. More than 30,000 people have crossed the channel so far this year, compared with more than 28,000 in all of 2021 and just over 8,400 in 2020, according to Britain’s Home Office.
Despite the chorus of critics, Britain’s Conservative-led government pledged to press on, with the new prime minister, Liz Truss, vowing to expand the plan. Britain’s home secretary, Suella Braverman, said last week it would be her “dream” to have a flight with asylum seekers leave for Rwanda before Christmas — an unlikely move because of expected appeals of the High Court’s ruling.
Rwanda’s president, Paul Kagame, has transformed the nation into an ambitious state that punches above its weight. Brian Otieno for The New York Times
At the transit center in Gashora, refugees get three meals a day and bond over making traditional food like injera flatbread or doro wat (Ethiopian spiced chicken). They receive professional counseling, gather before sundown to play volleyball and soccer and congregate under a tree to say daily prayers.
But during recent interviews with visitors shadowed by Rwandan security officers, none of the refugees said they wanted to stay there. Almost all hoped to make it to Europe.
“I have a goal and that is to go to a European country,” said Abubakar Ishaq, 35, who fled turmoil in the Darfur region of Sudan. “I cannot give up on that.”
The transfer of asylum seekers mirrors the colonial practice of moving people against their will in order to further wealthier nations’ economic and political goals, said Parvati Nair, a professor of Hispanic, cultural and migration studies at Queen Mary University of London.
“I don’t think we should take human beings and put them at the heart of an economic deal without the consent of those human beings,” Professor Nair said. “The unspoken issue here is one of race and one of empire and who wields more power.”
The psychological toll on the refugees must also be taken into account, experts say.
Rwanda, a nation of 13 million, is one of the smallest, most densely populated countries in Africa. Brian Otieno for The New York Times
Before the first British deportation flight was grounded, some asylum seekers attempted suicide, Ms. Moseley said. One man tried to cut his wrists, she said. Once on the plane, many screamed and begged not to be flown to Rwanda.
Rwandan officials insist that their agreement with Britain is ideal and that the country — and Africa at large — should be viewed as a “place for solutions.”
“We do not consider living in Rwanda a punishment,” Yolande Makolo, spokeswoman for the government, recently told reporters.
But some refugees say they have suffered wrenching experiences in Rwanda.
A Congolese refugee said the Rwandan authorities accused him of partaking in protests over cuts to refugee food rations in 2018. (At least 12 refugees were killed.) So he fled to Kenya. But in 2019, he said, he was kidnapped.
“I ran for my life,” he said, “but they found me.”
The refugee, who insisted on anonymity for fear of retribution, said he was blindfolded and tortured for 10 days by men who accused him of collaborating with the Rwandan opposition. He was rescued, he said, by the Kenyan police almost 200 miles northwest of Nairobi. Rights groups confirmed his case.
“I am not in Rwanda, but I know I am never safe,” he said.
Tesfay Gush, a 50-year-old refugee from Eritrea, was deported to Rwanda by Israel. But at the airport, he said, Rwandan officials stripped him of his documents and forced him to go to Uganda. Djamila Grossman for The New York Times
Tesfay Gush, who is Eritrean, said when he was deported by Israel to Rwanda in 2015, security officials at the airport in Kigali stripped him of his documents and, working with civilians believed to be smugglers, forced him to cross into Uganda.
Once in Kampala, the Ugandan capital, Mr. Gush, now 50, sought to get to Europe. He endured threats, robberies and beatings as he traveled through South Sudan, Sudan and Libya, he said. After crossing the Mediterranean Sea, he landed in Italy and made it to Switzerland.
“The Rwandan government did not care about us as Africans or our rights as human beings,” Mr. Gush said by phone from Geneva.
Ms. Makolo, the spokeswoman for the Rwandan government, denied his allegations.
Meanwhile, at the transit center in Gashora, refugees are eager to move on.
Those included Nyalada Gatluak, a 26-year-old South Sudanese approved for settlement in Finland.
Before her departure one July afternoon, Ms. Gatluak put on lipstick as her 18-month-old son, Boum, followed her around.
“I came here so that I could go where I wanted,” she said. “That is Europe, not Rwanda.”
Brian Otieno for The New York Times
FEATURED IMAGE: The Emergency Transit Mechanism Center in Gashora, Rwanda, houses African refugees awaiting asylum or resettlement elsewhere. Brian Otieno for The New York Times
