This decision positions Rwanda as the latest African nation to adopt such a measure, joining others in the pursuit of a more integrated continent to rival Europe’s Schengen zone.

The Schengen zone, consisting of 27 European countries, has successfully eliminated the need for passports and various border control measures at their shared borders.

Local media reports that Kagame revealed his plans on Thursday during a speech in Kigali, the capital of Rwanda.

Kagame emphasised the immense potential of Africa as a unified tourism destination.

Currently, the continent heavily depends on tourists from outside Africa, accounting for 60% of its total visitors, according to data from the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa.

“Any African can get on a plane to Rwanda whenever they wish and they will not pay a thing to enter our country,” said Kagame during the 23rd Global Summit of the World Travel and Tourism Council.

We should not lose sight of our own continental market. Africans are the future of global tourism as our middle class continues to grow at a fast pace in the decades to come,” he said.

Rwanda is poised to become the latest African nation to eliminate travel restrictions for fellow Africans, following in the footsteps of Gambia, Benin, and Seychelles.

Similarly, in a recent development, Kenya’s President William Ruto has revealed plans to allow visa-free travel to Kenya for all Africans by December 31.

The Vice-Chancellor of the University, Prof. Lilian Salami, was also honoured as Africa Pillar of Education for her impact on education development on the continent.

According to a statement by the institution’s Public Relations Officer, Dr Benedicta Ehanire on Saturday in Benin, the awards were presented at the 1st Africa Education  Summit, held at the University of Rwanda in Kigali.

The University of Benin has won the Africa Outstanding University Award of the Year for 2023 in Rwanda.

The Vice-Chancellor of the University, Prof. Lilian Salami, was also honoured as Africa Pillar of Education for her impact on education development on the continent.

According to a statement by the institution’s Public Relations Officer, Dr Benedicta Ehanire on Saturday in Benin, the awards were presented at the 1st Africa Education  Summit, held at the University of Rwanda in Kigali.

“From today… anyone entering the UK illegally as well as those who have arrived illegally since January 1 may now be relocated to Rwanda,” Prime Minister Boris Johnson said in a speech near Dover in southeastern England.

“Rwanda will have the capacity to resettle tens of thousands of people in the years ahead,” Johnson said.

He called the East African nation with a sketchy human rights record “one of the safest countries in the world, globally recognised for its record of welcoming and integrating migrants.”

Johnson was elected partly on promises to curb illegal immigration but has instead seen record numbers making the risky Channel crossing.

He also announced that Britain’s border agency would hand responsibility for patrolling the Channel for migrant boats to the navy.

“The Royal Navy will take over operational command from Border Force in the Channel with the aim that no boat makes it to the UK undetected,” Johnson said, announcing extra funds for boats, aircraft and surveillance equipment to help detain people-smugglers at sea.

This will send a clear message to those piloting the boats. If you risk other people’s lives in the Channel, you risk spending your own life in prison,” he said.

More than 28,000 people arrived in Britain having crossed the Channel from France in small boats in 2021.

Around 90 percent of those were male and three-quarters were men aged between 18 and 39.

The Rwanda plan swiftly drew the ire of opposition politicians who accused Johnson of trying to distract from his being fined for breaking coronavirus lockdown rules, while rights groups slammed the project as “inhumane”.

Ghana and Rwanda had previously been mentioned as possible locations for the UK to outsource the processing of migrants, but Ghana in January denied involvement.

Instead, Kigali on Thursday announcing that it had signed a multi-million-dollar deal to do the job, during a visit by British Home Secretary Priti Patel.

“Rwanda welcomes this partnership with the United Kingdom to host asylum seekers and migrants, and offer them legal pathways to residence” in the East African nation, Foreign Minister Vincent Biruta said in a statement.

The deal with Rwanda will be funded by the UK to the tune of up to 120 million pounds ($157 million, 144 million euros), with migrants “integrated into communities across the country,” it said.

The frontier had been closed in February 2019 as political tensions between Kigali and Kampala spiralled, leading to the near-collapse of two-way trade.

Rwanda announced its decision to reopen the border last week as a step towards repairing ties that had been soured by various rival accusations of espionage, abductions and meddling.

It followed a visit to Kigali by Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni’s powerful son Muhoozi Kainerugaba, where he met Rwandan President Paul Kagame.

The main Gatuna crossing post, known as Katuna in Uganda, officially reopened at midnight, and traffic was expected to gather pace throughout the day.

Museveni and Kagame were close allies in the 1980s and 1990s during struggles for power in their respective countries, but relations turned deeply hostile.

Rwanda shut the frontier after accusing Uganda of abducting its citizens and supporting rebels seeking to topple Kagame.

Uganda in turn accused Rwanda of spying as well as killing two men during an incursion into Ugandan territory in 2019 — a claim Kigali denied.

Both governments said last week they hoped the border reopening could contribute to the normalisation of ties.

Before the closure, Ugandan exports to Rwanda — predominantly cement and food — totalled more than $211 million in 2018, according to World Bank figures, while Rwanda exported $13 million worth of goods to Uganda.

Trade plummeted in 2019, with the situation further exacerbated by the Covid crisis.

The move followed a visit to Kigali by Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni’s powerful son Muhoozi Kainerugaba last weekend when he and Rwandan President Paul Kagame pledged to restore relations.

The border between the two East African nations was abruptly closed in February 2019 as political tensions between Kigali and Kampala spiralled, devastating two-way trade.

Rwanda’s foreign ministry said in a statement that the main Gatuna border post, known as Katuna in Uganda, would reopen on January 31.

Following Kainerugaba’s visit, the government “has taken note that there is a process to solve issues raised by Rwanda, as well as commitments made by the government of Uganda to address remaining obstacles”, it said.

“The government of Rwanda remains committed to ongoing efforts to resolve pending issues between Rwanda and Uganda and believes that today’s announcement will contribute positively to the speedy normalisation of relations between the two countries.”

There was no immediate comment from the Ugandan government, but it retweeted the Rwandan statement on its official account.

“We can see the two governments are trying to create a new direction after a long standoff and a few roadblocks have been removed,” said Ugandan security analyst Fred Egesa”

Kainerugaba, the commander of Uganda’s land armed forces, is rumoured to be positioning himself as a possible successor to his 77-year-old father, who has ruled Uganda since 1986.

Museveni and Kagame were close allies in the 1980s and 1990s during struggles for power in their respective countries, before becoming bitter rivals.

Rwanda abruptly closed its border with Uganda in 2019, accusing Uganda of abducting its citizens and supporting rebels seeking to topple Kagame.

For its part, Uganda accused Rwanda of spying as well as killing two men during an incursion into Ugandan territory in 2019 — a claim Kigali denied.

Shortly after the Kagame-Kainerugaba meeting, Museveni announced on Tuesday he was replacing the country’s powerful intelligence chief Major General Abel Kandiho.

Rwandan officials have in recent years accused Kandiho, who has been moved to a role as security envoy to South Sudan, of working with dissidents to kidnap Rwandan citizens in Uganda.

“For purposes of harmony between the two countries it was important Kandiho was deployed elsewhere,” analyst Egesa said.

The United States in December slapped sanctions on Kandiho, who had been the commander of the feared Chieftaincy of Military Intelligence since January 2017, accusing him and his office of involvement in human rights abuses including beatings, sexual assault and electrocution.

Talks to try to ease tensions between Kagame and Museveni were previously hosted by Angolan President Joao Lourenco and Congolese leader Felix Tshisekedi, with the last such meeting taking place in February 2020.

No meeting has been held between the two leaders since, partly due to the Covid-19 pandemic.

Relations between the two countries also soured after an investigation last year found that Rwanda had used Israeli Pegasus spying software to hack into the phones of Uganda’s prime minister and foreign minister, among others.

Ugandan goods such as cement, foodstuffs and liquor, dominated the Rwandan market before the closure of the border. They were effectively replaced by goods from Tanzania and Asia.

The new variant was first reported in South Africa last week, with cases subsequently detected in several countries, and many governments have moved swiftly to reimpose flight restrictions.

In a press statement, the country’s prime minister, Dr. Édouard Ngirente, said that after an extraordinary Cabinet meeting, it was resolved that “direct flights between Rwanda and southern Africa are temporarily suspended”.

The countries affected by the ban are Botswana, Eswatini, Lesotho, Malawi, Mozambique, Namibia, South Africa, Zambia, and Zimbabwe.

The World Health Organization (WHO) warned Monday that the new variant poses a “very high” risk globally.

Even if the new strain proves to be less deadly than previous ones, it could put more pressure on hospitals if it spreads more easily, it said.

“If another major surge of Covid-19 takes place driven by Omicron, consequences may be severe,” WHO said in a technical note, adding that “to date, no deaths linked to Omicron variant have been reported.”

South African President Cyril Ramaphosa on Sunday protested the “unjustified” travel bans and called for their immediate reversal.

“We call upon all those countries that have imposed travel bans on our country and our southern African sister countries to immediately and urgently reverse their decisions,” Ramaphosa said.

Malawian President Lazarus Chakwera on his part accused Western countries of “Afrophobia” for shutting their borders.

The head of the WHO in Africa also cautioned against border closures.

“With the Omicron variant now detected in several regions of the world, putting in place travel bans that target Africa attacks global solidarity,” WHO regional director general Matshidiso Moeti said in a statement.

Ladislas Ntaganzwa, was one of the top fugitive suspects, accused of playing a key role in the massacre. He was arrested in the neighbouring Democratic Republic of Congo in 2015 before he was brought back to Rwanda in 2016 where he has been on trial.

Ntaganzwa, who had a $5-million (4.6-million-euro) US bounty on his head was accused of organising “the massacre of thousands of Tutsis at various locations,” the UN-backed Mechanism for International Criminal Tribunals (MICT) said when he was arrested.

“He was also alleged to have orchestrated the rape and sexual violence committed against many women,” it said.

A statement from Rwanda’s prosecution authority said the court “convicted him for genocide, extermination as a crime against humanity and rape as a crime against humanity and sentenced him to life imprisonment.”

Ntaganzwa was, however, “not found guilty of murder as a crime against humanity and direct and public incitement to commit genocide,” the prosecution authority said.

The International Monetary Fund (IMF) is an organization of 189 countries, that helps foster global monetary cooperation, secure financial stability, facilitate international trade, promote high employment and reduce poverty around the world.

The Managing Director of the International Monetary Fund (IMF), Ms. Kristalina Georgieva, in a statement in Washington last night, announced debt service relief for 25 poor countries saying the debt relief was to enable the affected countries to better tackle the COVID-19 pandemic.

The countries that were relieved of the debt include Afghanistan, Benin, Burkina Faso, Central African Republic, Chad, Comoros, Congo, D.R., The Gambia, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Haiti, Liberia, Madagascar, Malawi, Mali, Mozambique, Nepal, Niger, Rwanda, São Tomé and Príncipe, Sierra Leone, Solomon Islands, Tajikistan, Togo and Yemen.

She said, ” Today, I am pleased to say that our Executive Board approved immediate debt service relief to 25 of the IMF’s member countries under the IMF’s revamped Catastrophe Containment and Relief Trust (CCRT) as part of the Fund’s response to help address the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic. This provides grants to our poorest and most vulnerable members to cover their IMF debt obligations for an initial phase over the next six months and will help them channel more of their scarce financial resources towards vital emergency medical and other relief efforts. The CCRT can currently provide about US$500 million in grant-based debt service relief, including the recent US$185 million pledge by the UK and US$100 million provided by Japan as immediately available resources. Others, including China and the Netherlands, are also stepping forward with important contributions. I urge other donors to help us replenish the Trust’s resources and boost further our ability to provide additional debt service relief for a full two years to our poorest member countries.”

The African leaders withdrew from the three-day event holding in Capetown after the xenophobic attacks launched by South Africans against foreigners especially Nigerians.

Zimbabwean media personality, Josey Mahachie also confirmed that the Zambian National team cancelled its friendly match with South Africa, citing security concerns.