Rwanda opposition leader says migrants from UK will increase resources

The party said on Thursday that taking migrants from the UK would increase the land burden and survival challenges for the limited natural resources available. Ingabire said Rwanda produced refugees. These include Rwandan people who sought political and economic asylum in other countries. Such conditions do not guarantee long term security in Rwanda and the Great Lakes region.

Rwanda is one of the world's safest nations at the same time a country where its inhabitants are unhappy. Ingabire was jailed for five years on charges he said were politically motivated after returning to Rwanda to contest elections in 2010. She said the British and Rwandan governments argument that relocating people to Rwanda would address inequalities that drove people from their homes was not credible.

The Rwandan president, Paul Kagame, is a divisive figure. He is credited with the development and stability Rwanda has experienced since the genocide in 1994, but he is accused of intolerance towards any criticism, whether domestic or international. Kagame won a third term in power, with 98% of the vote at the 2017 elections. The security services in Rwanda are a source of systematic harassment, arrest and detention of opposition politicians.

Some critics have challenged the country's much-lauded economic record. In Rwanda, inequality is on the rise despite the praise it received internationally for its development, the Covid 19 epidemic further exposed the shortcomings of Rwanda's economic progress, especially in areas needed to achieve real social and economic transformation for the wider population, Ingabire said.

In October, nine people linked to DALFA-Umurinzi and a journalist were arrested in a crackdown on opponents and critics that appeared to be prompted by an event, Ingabire Day, organised by the unregistered opposition party to discuss political repression in Rwanda.