The United Kingdom’s new envoy to Rwanda Omar Daair, who formally presented his credentials to President Paul Kagame last month, held his first news briefing on Thursday, August 19, where he covered various subjects on the state of relations between the two countries.

Below are the key takeaways:

1.  CHOGM update

Rwanda could host the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting (CHOGM) in 2022 with the exact dates being proposed by the government of Rwanda. The event was postponed on two occasions due to the Covid-19 pandemic.

"The primary decision on when to host is it actually with Rwanda working closely with the Commonwealth secretariat. We will do what we can to support. We are keen to see it happen ideally in the first half of next year if we can or as soon as practicable,” Daair said.

2. Genocide fugitives in the UK

Like previous envoys before him, Daair was non-committal on the fate of five genocide suspects who have been living in this country for more than two decades.

The key suspects are; Vincent Bajinya, Célestin Ugirashebuja, Charles Munyaneza, Emmanuel and Célestin Mutabaruka.

A collage of five indicted Genocide suspects living in the UK. Top row (L-R): Célestin Mutabaruka and Dr Vincent Bajinya. Bottom row (L-R): Charles Munyaneza, Célestin Ugirashebuja and Emmanuel Nteziryayo. Photos: File.

Daair said that while he understands that the matter is of concern to many Rwandans, his office and government cannot do much least they are accused of interference with a judicial procedure.

"It would be counterproductive for a court case if the government was seen to be interfering in the process. It could be grounds for further appeal. I understand that it feels slow, there has been many verdicts and it does take a long time,” he said.

Asked whether there could be some unseen hands interfering with the process or corruption holding back the proceedings, he said that he has faith and confidence in the country’s judicial system.

Rwanda first notified the UK government of the presence of these suspects on its soil back in 2007 when they issued indictments. Following an extradition case, Rwandan prosecution won in 2008 before the suspects appealed. In 2009, an appeals court ruled in their favour.

Rwanda made a fresh extradition bid at Westminster Magistrates Court in 2013 following judicial reforms but again it lost.

In 2015 and in 2017, a British District Court and the High Court ruled respectively, that there was compelling evidence of the involvement of the five in the genocide against the Tutsi, but none of them could be extradited to Rwanda because that would breach their human rights.

The court has since not ruled on what would be done to bring the group to justice.

3. UK terminology on the 1994 Genocide against the Tutsi

The new envoy also remained non-committal on looking into the subject of the UK’s refusal to use the terminology agreed upon by the United Nations; the 1994 Genocide against the Tutsi.

He acknowledged that the choice of nomenclature is a sensitive issue.

"I understand that it is not the position of the government with regard to the terminology and a lot of people take this issue seriously. It is not designed to dilute this issue. It is not in any way meant to be genocide denial which we reject,” Daair said.

4. UK travel ban

In January this year, the United Kingdom put Rwanda on a red list banning travelers from Rwanda to prevent the spread of new Covid-19 variants that are emerging.

Many have questioned the UK’s decision, saying that the decision does not stand up to scientific scrutiny. Daair said that the move by his government was informed by the scarcity of information on the variants of Covid-19 that could be in Rwanda and the region.

"Back then there was lower vaccinations, testing, as well as limited information on the presence of variants. We continue to assess the information available,” he said.

He added that they have noted progress as the country rolls out testing and vaccination as well as a decline in infections with the third wave coming under control.

"We continue to feed this information back to London… We would all much rather that the red list was lifted, it will continue to be monitored. I do not have a specific timeline but we are continuing to share information. We are also exploring ways that we can partner on some of the data on variants which would be helpful,” he said.

5. Priorities during his tenure

Daair said that he will remain open to identifying issues Rwanda seeks support in. The cooperation will however be strong in areas such as education, job creation and economic growth, increasing trade, climate change and delivering CHOGM.

The UK will spend an estimated £24-25M worth of aid assistance, a figure which has been slowly declining in recent years. He explained the decline is an outcome of the positive progress made in development by Rwanda.

"You will notice that over the years, aid has reduced. Part of that is because of the success story in the country. As countries get better, they need more of technical assistance which is usually less money spent,” he said.