UK sends first asylum seeker to Rwanda under voluntary deportation scheme

Britain has sent a first asylum seeker to Rwanda, British media reported on Tuesday, a week after adopting a controversial law allowing irregular migrants to be deported to the east African country.

Prime Minister Rishi Sunak's government has made the fight against illegal migration a priority as it hopes to recover ground on the main opposition Labour party ahead of an expected general election later this year.

The announcement of this expulsion comes just two days before local elections in England and Wales in which the ruling Conservatives are expected to suffer major losses to Labour.

The controversial law, which has come under fire from the United Nations and rights groups, allows Britain to expel undocumented migrants to Rwanda, where they would be allowed to remain if their asylum applications are successful.

They would not be allowed to return to Britain.

Sunak's government plans to begin the expulsions by July.

But the man who left the UK on Monday had agreed to be sent to Kigali following his asylum rejection at the end of last year, several media said, as part of a separate and voluntary scheme.

The African national left on a commercial flight to Kigali, The Sun newspaper said.

In exchange for his agreement to leave Britain, he is due to receive up to £3,000 ($3,750), according to government sources quoted by the Times newspaper.

'Rebuild their lives'

Contacted by AFP, the British Home Office did not confirm the reports.

"We are now able to send asylum seekers to Rwanda under our migration and economic development partnership," a government spokesperson said.

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