Rwanda tipped to host first European migrant return hub

Rwanda is expected to host the first so-called "return hub" where some EU nations plan to expel migrants with no right to stay in the bloc, multiple sources confirmed to AFP Tuesday.

An agreement between the African nation and the five European Union members pushing to set up such centres could be signed as early as next month, according to three people briefed on the negotiations that have involved talks in both Kigali and Brussels.

Denmark, Austria, Greece, Germany and the Netherlands have stated their intention to secure a deal to have a migrant centre up and running in 2027 by the end of the year -- but have yet to publicly confirm where.

For months Rwanda has been named alongside Uganda and Uzbekistan among a group of potential hosts, but diplomats and other people briefed on the talks said it was now the clear frontrunner.

Envoys from the five European countries visited Kigali in September to discuss details, a diplomatic source told AFP.

A Rwandan delegation then travelled to Europe in recent weeks, also making a stop in Brussels, where work on migration is being coordinated at EU level, several sources said.

A migration conference in Vienna in mid-November could serve as a backdrop for the signing of a deal, observers say.

The Rwandan government did not immediately respond to a request for comment. In August Kigali had confirmed it had opened "preliminary" talks on the subject with some European nations.

Diplomats from the five EU countries involved also declined to provide an official comment.

"The dialogue is progressing very well, but we will not comment on the timing or the specific country," a diplomat from one of the five told AFP, on condition of anonymity.

'Irresponsible'

The possibility of building return hubs outside the 27-nation bloc was the most prominent feature of a tightening of EU migration rules that was finally approved this month.

Rwanda is the frontrunner to host Europe's first migrant centre in Africa. By Anne-Christine POUJOULAT (AFP)

Until recently a fringe idea, the plan reflects the tougher stance sought by many governments on migration amid a souring of public opinion that has fuelled far-right electoral gains across the continent.

Proponents say return hubs -- which would serve either as the final destination or as transfer centres for those expelled -- could facilitate repatriations and act as a deterrent for would-be irregular migrants.

But critics, including France, question their effectiveness, pointing to the hurdles faced by similar projects and likening them to "legal black holes" that could see migrants stranded in limbo with little oversight.

Britain abandoned a scheme to deport undocumented migrants to Rwanda, while Italian-run facilities to process migrants in Albania have faced legal challenges and a slow uptake.

Diplomatic sources say the European return hub in Rwanda will be initially run as a pilot, hosting about 100 people, with each of the five nations possibly sending around 20 migrants.

It would not be a detention facility, with Kigali inclined to name it a "welcome centre" to underscore the possibility for some migrants to stay and work in the country, a source said.

"I think it is a big mistake," Anna Strolenberg, an EU lawmaker from the Netherlands who recently went on an exploratory mission to Rwanda, said of the European initiative.

Rwanda was struggling to cope with cuts in US aid, she said, noting these had resulted in asylum seekers experiencing water and food shortages in the country and that ensuring human rights were protected would be difficult.

Local attitudes towards migrants were shifting, she added, amid fears criminals had been sent to the country under a similar US immigration scheme championed by President Donald Trump.

"Sending even more people to a system like this is irresponsible," Strolenberg, who is from the Greens group, told AFP.