The last 30 years, almost 30 years, we've welcomed a lot of refugees to Rwanda. We have over 130,000 refugees who live here, mostly Congolese and Burundians, and in smaller numbers, people from elsewhere on the continent and beyond. We're not new to this situation where people are coming in seeking safety and opportunity. We partnered with the UNIT-CR and the African Union to bring in, evacuate migrants who are stuck, African migrants mostly who were stuck in Libya when the war started. Starting in 2019, we've had close to 2,000 African migrants who were stuck in Libya, evacuated to Rwanda.

They were given a choice, right? Whether they wanted to stay, go back home, or be resettled, and all of them chose to be resettled. What about the idea that the migrants that come here, the asylum seekers from the UK, won't actually have a choice? How does that sit with you?

Well, they will have a choice. They will have a choice to live here with us and work, and they'll be facilitatedwe're motivated to do that. The partnership that we're working on with the UK will ensure that they get these opportunities, that they receive the safety that they need, and they get training in language, in skills, they will be able to go to school, and they will live amongst us in Rwanda. If they do want to go back home, we will not be deporting anyone or sending people back to dangerous situations, but they will have a choice to go back home if they want to. We're not setting up any presence here. The idea is that the migrants and asylum seekers who come here will live amongst us, will live amongst Rwandans, and benefit from the same opportunities that Rwandans have.

If an asylum seeker was deported here to the UK and was critical of the London government in a way that may be deemed as a security threat. Will they still be kept safe?

There's nothing wrong with criticizing the London government. There's everything wrong with violating laws, so anyone breaks the law, whether it's a London or anyone who lives here, then they will have to be accountable to the law.

There is this situation in 2018, where Congolese refugees who were protesting against food rations being cut were shot dead by the police at least 12. Could that happen again in this day and age?

Hopefully not. The intention of our security forces and the police at that time was not to harm anyone. That was a violent protest. The UNHCR offices where they were protesting and the staff of the UNHCR were in danger. There were certain ringleaders of the crowd that were being extremely violent, and the police had to take measures to restore order. Unfortunately, some people lost their lives, which is very regrettable. But this is not... It's something that happened once, a few years ago, and we've been hosting refugees in this country for almost 30 years.