The UK government has said it will not send further payments to Rwanda following the cancellation of the migrant deal between the two countries.

On Monday, Rwanda’s government spokesperson Yolande Makolo said the UK had asked Rwanda to “quietly forgo” the remaining payment – reportedly amounting to £50m ($64m) – based on “trust and good faith”.

However, Rwanda has now asked the UK to pay the remainder of the money it says it is owed, accusing the UK of breaching trust by suspending some aid to the country.

In a statment, a UK government spokesperson said that “no further payments in relation to this policy will be made and Rwanda has waived any additional payments.”

The plan to deport some asylum seekers to Rwanda, devised by the previous Conservative government in 2022, cost the UK £240m ($310m) before being scrapped by Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer.

Speaking in July last year, shortly after being elected, Starmer said the plan was “dead and buried”, arguing that the scheme had “never been a deterrent” and would only deport “less than 1%” of small boat arrivals.

Last month, the UK announced it would halt bilateral aid to Rwanda, “excluding support to the poorest and most vulnerable”.

The UK took the decision to cut aid after accusing the country of supporting M23, a rebel group that has captured swathes of eastern Democratic Republic of Congo in a deadly uprising.

The aid cuts have amounted to “unjustified punitive measures to coerce Rwanda into compromising our national security”, Makolo wrote on X.

Makolo said Rwanda would now be “following up” on outsanding payments relating to the migrant deal to which the UK was “legally bound”.

Rwanda has often denied backing the M23 rebel group, but has recently been more defensive, saying it has had to take measures to deal with the “existential threat” posed by genocidal militia near its borders.

UN experts have previously estimated that between 3,000 and 4,000 Rwandan troops are in eastern DR Congo.

More than 7,000 people have died and hundreds of thousands have fled their homes since the conflict escalated in January, DR Congo’s government says.

In a statement sent to the BBC, a UK government spokesperson said that “no further payments in relation to this policy will be made and Rwanda has waived any additional payments”.

“The Home Secretary has been clear that the costly Migration and Economic Development Partnership with Rwanda wasted tax-payer money and should not continue,” the spokesperson added.

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