British Home Secretary James Cleverly and Rwandan Minister of Foreign Affairs Vincent Biruta signed the new treaty in Kigali, Rwanda / Photo: Reuters

Britain and Rwanda signed a new treaty on Tuesday in a bid to revive a controversial proposal by London to transfer migrants to the east African country.

British interior minister James Cleverly met Rwandan foreign minister Vincent Biruta in Kigali to sign the agreement and salvage London's stalled bid to send asylum-seekers and other migrants to Rwanda.

The treaty deals with concerns by the Supreme Court, including assurances that Rwanda will not remove anybody transferred under the partnership to another country.

Cleverly said he believed the treaty addressed all the issues raised by the Supreme Court when it blocked the government's plan to send asylum seekers to the East African country.

Safety concerns

"We feel very strongly that this treaty addresses all the issues raised by their lordships in the Supreme Court and we have worked very closely with our Rwandan partners to ensure that it does so," Cleverly said at a press conference in Kigali.

Last month, the United Kingdom's Supreme Court unanimously rejected the government's appeal against an earlier ruling that migrants could not be sent to Rwanda because it could not be considered a safe third country.

Former Prime Minister Boris Johnson brought in the proposal to try to tackle record numbers of migrants crossing the Channel from northern France by small boats.

But it triggered a wave of protests from rights groups and charities, while last-gasp legal challenges successfully blocked the first deportation flights last June.

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TRT Afrika and agencies