Gama
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- Jan 9, 2010
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Wazamiaji wanaotoka nchi mbalimbali na kukimbilia Uingereza wameonesha wasiwasi kuwa wanaenda kuishi katika mateso kwakuwa wanajua kuwa hakuna amani na demekrasia katika nchi ya Kagame
© BBC
Five weeks after the UK announced a deal with Rwanda to resettle undocumented migrants who arrive on British shores, the mood among migrants in Calais has shifted.
"Before, people were all afraid," Hassan told me, at an aid distribution site near Calais. "But now they're not. They think they must get to the UK."
Hassan isn't easily deterred. Thirty years old, from the Sudanese region of Darfur, he limped from his camp to the distribution point where I met him, leaning on a walking stick. After living for three years in the French city with chronic back injuries, he was still determined to make it across the Channel.
I asked what he would do if the UK sent him to Rwanda instead.
"My life would be finished," he told me. "My life would be over. It would be like killing me slowly. Everyone knows what Rwanda was before. It doesn't have human rights. Migrants are not welcome there."
An aid worker estimates 10-15% of migrants have been put off by the new policy
At a camp table nearby, Mohammed - also from Sudan - slammed dominos down in a lively four-way game with fellow migrants. Mohammed usually plays for higher stakes, hiding in lorries bound for the UK.
If he found himself one day resettled in Rwanda, he said, he would come straight back to Calais, and try to cross the Channel again.
Only one of those I spoke to here said the new UK policy had changed his plans.
Aid agencies say there is a great deal of worry over the policy, but that the majority of migrants living here have not abandoned their bid to reach the UK - often because they have family ties or job opportunities there.
Migrants say Rwanda deal won't stop them
7h ago© BBC
Five weeks after the UK announced a deal with Rwanda to resettle undocumented migrants who arrive on British shores, the mood among migrants in Calais has shifted.
"Before, people were all afraid," Hassan told me, at an aid distribution site near Calais. "But now they're not. They think they must get to the UK."
Hassan isn't easily deterred. Thirty years old, from the Sudanese region of Darfur, he limped from his camp to the distribution point where I met him, leaning on a walking stick. After living for three years in the French city with chronic back injuries, he was still determined to make it across the Channel.
I asked what he would do if the UK sent him to Rwanda instead.
"My life would be finished," he told me. "My life would be over. It would be like killing me slowly. Everyone knows what Rwanda was before. It doesn't have human rights. Migrants are not welcome there."
An aid worker estimates 10-15% of migrants have been put off by the new policy
At a camp table nearby, Mohammed - also from Sudan - slammed dominos down in a lively four-way game with fellow migrants. Mohammed usually plays for higher stakes, hiding in lorries bound for the UK.
If he found himself one day resettled in Rwanda, he said, he would come straight back to Calais, and try to cross the Channel again.
Only one of those I spoke to here said the new UK policy had changed his plans.
Aid agencies say there is a great deal of worry over the policy, but that the majority of migrants living here have not abandoned their bid to reach the UK - often because they have family ties or job opportunities there.
BBC
