Africa: Botswana refuses to accept British immigrants on its territory
« I can confirm that the British government, through the Foreign Minister and the Minister for Africa, approached Botswana diplomatically to host illegal migrants bound for the United Kingdom, but we did not follow up on their request », Lemogang Kwape said recently in an interview with Newzroom Afrika.
Lemogang Kwape indicated that Botswana had enough problems, particularly regarding immigration, in its own neighborhood.
« It would be unfair to host unwanted immigrants from another country when we are facing our own problems in the region », he said.
He emphasized that Botswana simply could not accept illegal immigrants from a third country. Botswana hosts a number of immigrants from Zimbabwe, Somalia, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, and other neighboring countries.
« It is clear that the British government does not want these people in its country and therefore wants to transport them to a distant country », added Lemogang Kwape.
The British Parliament passed a bill earlier this week providing for the expulsion of illegal migrants to Rwanda, which has agreed to host them, despite widespread condemnation from human rights groups, politicians, and the United Nations.
After the bill was passed late Monday, British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak stated that the country’s goal was now to get the flights off the ground. He recalled that London introduced this law to deter vulnerable migrants from making perilous crossings and to break the business model of criminal gangs exploiting them.
Ousman P.
