Rwanda does not have to repay the hundreds of millions of pounds it received from Britain as part of a contentious policy aimed at sending migrants on a one-way flight to the Central African nation, two senior Rwandan government officials say. As part of the deal, Britain was set to give Rwanda as much as about half a billion pounds in development funding in exchange for taking in the migrants. Britain’s independent public spending watchdog said in early March that the country had already paid Rwanda £220 million, about $280 million, even though no asylum seekers had been deported to the African nation. Britain’s new prime minister, Keir Starmer, scrapped the plan after taking over as the country’s leader last week. One of the Rwandan officials, Alain Mukuralinda, the government’s deputy spokesman, said on Wednesday that the agreement did not include a reimbursement clause.

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Persons: Keir Starmer, Britain’s, Alain Mukuralinda Organizations: Central, Rwandan, Conservative Party, Channel Locations: Rwanda, Britain, Central African