Rwanda asking UK for $63 million over cancelled asylum deal, source says

NAIROBI (Reuters) - Rwanda is asking Britain for a 50 million-pound ($63.62 million) payment over a cancelled asylum deal, a source close to the government in Kigali said on Tuesday, after London paused some bilateral aid to the African country over the war in Congo.

On taking office last July, British Prime Minister Keir Starmer scrapped the prior Conservative government's asylum plan, under which Rwanda would have been paid to take in migrants who had illegally arrived in Britain.

Incoming Interior minister Yvette Cooper said that month that the plan had already cost UK taxpayers 700 million pounds ($890 million).

A source close to the Rwandan government told Reuters that Kigali was asking Britain for 50 million pounds over the cancelled agreement.

Yolande Makolo, Rwanda's government spokesperson, said the push to demand the payment was driven by Britain's recent stance towards Kigali, including what she described as inflammatory comments by Britain's Minister for Africa.

"The UK had asked Rwanda to quietly forego the payment based on the trust and good faith existing between our two nations," Makolo said in a post on X late on Monday.

"However, the UK has breached this trust through the unjustified punitive measures to coerce Rwanda into compromising our national security," she added.

The UK Foreign Office had no immediate comment.

Last week, Britain said it would pause some bilateral aid to Rwanda and impose other diplomatic sanctions over its role in the conflict in neighbouring Congo, a move Kigali called "punitive".

Rwanda is facing global pressure over accusations that it supports the M23 rebel group which, since January, has captured swathes of eastern Congo including the cities of Goma and Bukavu, and valuable mineral deposits.

Kigali denies backing the group but says its own troops are acting in self defence against hostile groups based in Congo.

($1 = 0.7863 pounds)

($1 = 0.7860 pounds)

(Reporting by George Obulutsa and Ammu Kannampilly; Editing by Sharon Singleton)