British Prime Minister Boris Johnson will meet with the Prince of Wales in Rwanda after the heir to the throne criticized the government’s policy of sending asylum seekers to the east African state.
The potentially awkward meeting comes during the Commonwealth heads of government meeting in Kigali this week.
Johnson’s government has decided to fly asylum seekers 4,000 miles away from the UK on one-way tickets to Rwanda.
Prince Charles called the plan “appalling.”
It is not the only crisis sinking Johnson. He will be accompanied by his wife, Carrie, only a few days after claims emerged he tried to hire her as his chief of staff when he was the foreign secretary.
It will be the first time Johnson and Prince Charles have spoken since a service for the Queen’s platinum jubilee a few weeks ago.
Johnson has called people’s criticism over the Rwanda policy “condescending.”
Human rights experts call his plan a violation of human rights, and simply, inhumane.
The first flight physically removing people from the UK and shipping them off to Rwanda was meant to take off last week. It was grounded after an 11th hour intervention by the European court of human rights.
A high court next month will examine whether the policy is legal at all.
Johnson’s government made the deal with Rwanda as part of a £120 million economic deal with the country. It has been widely condemned.
While Johnson keeps trying to block criticism of himself or of the Rwandan government, Prince Charles met yesterday with survivors of the Rwandan genocide. The first day of his visit to Rwanda was heavily focused on learning more about the massacres about three decades ago.
Prince Charles is the first member of the royal family to visit Rwanda. He is in Kigali representing the Queen at the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting (CHOGM). The CHOGM is usually held every two years, but was rescheduled twice due to the Covid pandemic.
Be the first to comment