LONDON (Azat TV) – Rwanda has launched arbitration proceedings against the United Kingdom, seeking £50 million in compensation after the UK government, under Prime Minister Keir Starmer, scrapped a controversial asylum partnership agreement. This legal challenge, initiated through the Hague-based Permanent Court of Arbitration on Tuesday, January 27, 2026, comes as Britain grapples with escalating domestic pressures over asylum seeker accommodation, including the deployment of former military sites and an ongoing investigation into a millionaire general practitioner’s alleged links to questionable property deals and eviction threats in Liverpool. Concurrently, across the Atlantic, a community in Maine, USA, is rallying behind an Angolan asylum seeker detained by federal agents just days after his wife gave birth.
Rwanda Seeks Compensation Over Scrapped Asylum Deal
Rwanda’s legal action against the UK stems from the termination of an agreement, brokered by former Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s Conservative government in 2022, that aimed to deport asylum seekers arriving in the UK via small boats to East Africa. Prime Minister Keir Starmer’s Labour government declared the deal “dead and buried” upon taking office in July 2024. While London had already disbursed £240 million to Kigali before the agreement’s abandonment, a further £50 million was reportedly due in April.
A Rwandan official confirmed that Kigali initiated inter-state arbitration proceedings in November 2025, following diplomatic engagement that failed to resolve the dispute over the UK’s refusal to disburse the remaining payments. The Permanent Court of Arbitration’s website lists the case status as pending. A spokesperson for Prime Minister Starmer stated on Tuesday that the government would ‘robustly defend our position to protect British taxpayers.’ The original agreement faced numerous legal challenges, culminating in a November 2023 UK Supreme Court ruling that deemed it illegal under international law. In a related development, the UK suspended most financial aid to Rwanda last year, citing Kigali’s alleged backing of the M23 group’s offensive in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, a move Rwanda labeled ‘punitive.’
UK Grapples with Domestic Asylum Accommodation Challenges
Domestically, the UK is facing renewed scrutiny over its asylum accommodation strategies. This week, the first 27 male asylum seekers were moved into a former military site in Crowborough, East Sussex, a move that has sparked ‘incredibly anxious’ reactions from local residents, according to local MP Nus Ghani. The Home Office plans to scale the site to house up to 500 male asylum seekers, a decision Ghani described as ‘wholly inappropriate.’ Wealden District Council leader James Partridge echoed these concerns, stating the authority is considering a legal challenge, despite Home Office assurances of 24/7 security and strict sign-in processes. The site previously accommodated Afghan families evacuated in 2021.
Meanwhile, a BBC investigation published on January 28, 2026, has highlighted concerns over companies linked to millionaire GP Dr. Faisal Maassarani, which began operating migrant hotels for Serco in 2022. The investigation suggests that firms connected to Dr. Maassarani acquired property freeholds worth approximately £5 million between 2021 and 2022. A particularly contentious incident involved Parliament Place in Liverpool, where dozens of tenants were threatened with eviction in March 2023, ostensibly for ‘urgent’ fire safety works, unaware that 116 asylum seekers were allegedly lined up to move into their homes. Tenants, including IT worker Andrew Lewis, described receiving letters from Schloss Roxburghe Holdings (SRH), a company founded by Maassarani in the Isle of Man, instructing them to vacate.
The BBC’s investigation found that private landlords of flats in Parliament Place were approached in February 2023 by an ‘agent’ promoting a deal with the UK Home Office for guaranteed monthly payments. Liverpool City Council confirmed it had never suggested tenants needed to move out for fire safety reasons, and the asylum seeker plan for Parliament Place was eventually shelved. Dr. Maassarani, who operates several NHS GP surgeries, stated he was not involved in the day-to-day running of SRH or any tenant communications, and derived no financial income from the company, which he said was owned by a trust for his family’s education. However, the BBC identified personal business links between Maassarani, his solicitor Michael Murphy (who resigned from his law firm last April), and David Lloyd, now the sole director of SRH, who is also Murphy’s father-in-law. SRH has recently faced fresh illegal eviction allegations at another Liverpool building, Queensland Place, where leaseholders secured an injunction against the firm in November 2025.
Angolan Asylum Seeker Detained in Maine, US
In the United States, the community of Saco, Maine, is rallying behind Makengo Nzeza, an Angolan asylum seeker detained by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) on Friday, January 23, 2026. The detention occurred just five days after his wife gave birth to their fourth child via emergency C-section, while she was still recovering in the hospital. The Rev. Scott Cousineau, senior minister of the First Parish Congregational Church in Saco, stated that Nzeza, who has lived in Saco for eight years and is described as a ‘model citizen,’ possessed all legal documents to reside in the United States. Nzeza had expressed fear to Cousineau despite his paperwork being in order. A GoFundMe page has been established to support Nzeza’s family with legal fees and essential needs.
The confluence of these events across different continents underscores the persistent, multifaceted challenges facing asylum policies and the individuals seeking refuge. From the high-stakes international arbitration launched by Rwanda against the UK to the local anxieties surrounding military camp conversions and the complex, often opaque, world of private contractors managing asylum accommodations, governments are struggling to balance humanitarian responsibilities with public and fiscal pressures. The detention of an asylum seeker in the US amidst a family crisis further highlights the deeply personal and often traumatic impact of these policies on vulnerable individuals, signaling a continued global struggle to find equitable and humane solutions.