Rwanda and some European nations are holding migration talks, Kigali’s spokesperson said Friday.
In June European lawmakers approved tougher migration rules, notably enabling nations to open “return hubs” outside the EU’s borders, where migrants with no right to stay could be sent.
Rwanda government spokesperson Yolande Makolo told a local radio station that while discussions were ongoing, there was “no agreement yet”.
She did not specify which European nations Rwanda was speaking with.
The broad talks were around an “emergency transit mechanism”, said Makolo.
Rwanda could provide “a safe place for families who are stranded… have nowhere else to go or in danger for various reasons”, she added.
‘Nothing decided’
She said the families could either return to their countries of origin or be resettled in another nation after applying for asylum.
Makolo confirmed to AFP that they had had “some initial discussions with some European countries but nothing has been decided”.
The talks referred to Rwanda’s “general approach and experience on the migration issue”, she added.
These latest talks echo an agreement the Great Lakes nation reached with the United Kingdom under the former Conservative government but subsequently scrapped by its successor.
Under that deal, Rwanda agreed to take migrants who had arrived in Britain via “dangerous or illegal journeys”.
It also comes following last week’s scenes when tens of thousands of people crossed into Spain’s north African enclave of Ceuta, which borders Morocco.
Most of those who made the crossing subsequently returned to Morocco.
