THE HAGUE, June 1 (Reuters) - Britain will not have to pay Rwanda tens of millions of pounds over a canceled asylum deal, the Permanent Court of Arbitration said on Monday.
The Hague-based body said it had rejected all financial claims made by Rwanda, which had argued Britain still needed to honour the terms of the deal which Prime Minister Keir Starmer cancelled in 2024.
After taking office that year, 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.
Kigali was asking for at least £60 million ($80 million), the court documents showed.
The three-judge panel found by a majority that in November 2024, Rwanda in diplomatic notes agreed "to forgo any additional payments by the United Kingdom in April 2025 and April 2026", the court said.
The details were released on Monday in excerpts of the ruling which the court said it made on May 15.
In the end only four people went voluntarilyto Rwanda under the asylum agreement, which ran into legal challenges before its cancellation.
Relationsbetween Britain and Rwanda soured last year when Londonpaused some aidoverthe Rwandanrole in the war in Democratic Republic of Congo.Rwanda has faced global pressure over accusations that it supports the M23 rebel groupin eastern Congo.
Kigali denies backing M23 and has blamed Congolese and Burundian forces for fightingthat has killed thousands and displaced hundreds of thousands in the past year.
($1=0.7428 pounds)
($1 = 0.7431 pounds)
(Reporting by Stephanie van den Berg; Editing by Sharon Singleton)
