Ghana, Morocco, Namibia, Niger and Nigeria said to be in 'advanced talks' with UK
The UK is reportedly in 'advanced talks' with five further African nations to relocate asylum seekers in a similar manner to the migration partnership agreed with Rwanda.
Very brief details were provided in an article in the Daily Mail yesterday based on an original article in The Times.
Ghana, Morocco, Namibia, Niger and Nigeria were named as the countries with which the UK is in advanced talks.
No further details were given, and EIN was unable to find the original, paywalled article in The Times online. No other media source appeared to have picked up on The Times' report of the talks.
Niger has the world's lowest ranking in the United Nations Development Programme's most recent human development index (HDI). The HDI is a summary measure of average achievement in key dimensions of human development: a long and healthy life, being knowledgeable, and having a decent standard of living.
As we reported on EIN earlier this year, Ghana completely rejected claims that it would be willing to receive asylum seekers from the UK following a similar report in The Times in January. Ghana's Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Regional Integration stated at the time: "The Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Regional Integration wishes to state categorically that Ghana has not engaged with the UK on any such plan and does not intend to consider any such operation in the future."
The January article in The Times did, however, also correctly report that the UK was in talks with Rwanda over relocating asylum seekers before any official announcement was made.
Meanwhile, Lucy Moreton, the professional officer at the ISU union for borders and immigration staff, told the i newspaper that the Rwanda policy was not deterring people "at all" and could even be contributing to the recent increase in the numbers of asylum seekers crossing the Channel. The Ministry of Defence reported that 1,295 migrants made the journey on Monday this week alone.
Moreton told the i newspaper that traffickers seemed to be telling people that they need to make it to the UK before the Rwanda scheme comes into force. "But the people smugglers who do this will tell migrants anything to get them to stump up their money and come," Moreton added.
The High Court hearing to decide upon the lawfulness of the Government's policy to relocate asylum seekers to Rwanda is set to begin early next month.