World

LONDON — The UK government vowed Wednesday to persevere with a controversial plan to send migrants to Rwanda, despite the Supreme Court upholding a lower court ruling that it was unlawful and should not go ahead.

In a major setback for Prime Minister Rishi Sunak, a five-judge panel at the UK’s highest court unanimously sided with an earlier Court of Appeal decision that the policy was incompatible with Britain’s international obligations.

In a 56-page ruling, the judges agreed there were “substantial grounds” to believe Rwanda could forcibly return asylum seekers and refugees to a country where they could face persecution.

But within hours of the long-awaited judgment, Sunak and his ministers said the government would press ahead with finalising a “new treaty” with Rwanda to address those concerns.

“We anticipated this judgment... and for the last few months have been working on a plan to provide the certainty that the courts demand,” newly Appointed Interior Minister James Cleverly told MPs.

The new treaty will “make it absolutely clear” to British and European courts that the Rwanda policy “will be consistent with international law”, he added.

In a call shortly after the ruling, Sunak and Rwandan President Paul Kagame “reiterated their firm commitment to making our migration partnership work”, Downing Street said. 

“Both leaders... agreed to take the necessary steps to ensure this is a robust and lawful policy and to stop the boats as soon as possible,” Sunak’s office added.

‘Appetite’ 

The Migration and Economic Development Partnership agreed in April last year envisages sending to Rwanda anyone who has made what London calls “dangerous or illegal journeys” to Britain on boats and hidden in lorries.

The first deportees were aboard a plane to fly to the African country in June 2022 when a last-minute European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) injunction prevented any deportations, prompting the legal challenges.

The government insists the scheme is crucial to deter “illegal” immigration across the Channel from France on inflatable vessels — an emotive issue set to feature prominently in the next general election.

More than 27,000 have made the perilous journey this year — down on the nearly 46,000 who crossed in 2022, but still far short of meeting Sunak’s vow to “stop the boats”.

His administration says both regular and irregular immigration must be slashed to ease pressure on government-funded services, such as health and housing asylum seekers.

Britain’s asylum backlog stands at 122,585, after falling 12 per cent from a record high in February. 

Sunak’s government passed legislation in July barring any “illegal” arrivals from claiming asylum, but it relies on finding third countries to send them to. 

Opponents criticise the choice of Rwanda, while arguing the policy is overly cruel, costly and difficult to implement. 

The government in Kigali said Wednesday it “take[s] issue” with the ruling that it is not a safe third country.

Despite the pledge to push ahead with its Rwanda plan, there is growing speculation London will now try to strike deals with other countries. 

Cleverly claimed there was “an appetite for this concept”, and said several other European countries were exploring similar agreements.

‘Ignore the laws’ 

The Supreme Court decision could widen rifts in the ruling Conservative party and prompt renewed demands from right-wingers that Britain withdraw from the ECHR.

Former interior minister Suella Braverman launched a scathing attack on Sunak on Tuesday, a day after he sacked her, accusing him of “betrayal” over immigration and saying he had “no appetite for doing what is necessary”.

In parliament on Wednesday, Sunak told MPs he was “prepared to change our laws and revisit those international relationships” if “domestic legal frameworks or international conventions” frustrated the plans.

Outspoken Tory party Deputy Chairman Lee Anderson said ministers should “ignore the laws” and deport migrants the day they arrive.

He branded the court judgment a “dark day for the British people” and said the government should “just put the planes in the air now and send them to Rwanda”.

The main Labour opposition, riding high in the polls, accused Sunak of failing to “have any serious plan to tackle dangerous boat crossings”.

“Labour argued from the start this plan is unworkable and extortionately expensive,” said Home Affairs spokeswoman Yvette Cooper.

Migrant advocates, including the UN refugee agency UNHCR which advised the Supreme Court on international refugee law and protection standards, welcomed Wednesday’s court ruling.

Amnesty International’s UK chief executive Sacha Deshmukh urged ministers to “now draw a line under a disgraceful chapter in the UK’s political history”.

DEHRADUN, India — More than a hundred rescuers in northern India struggled for a third day on Tuesday to save dozens of workers trapped underground after the road tunnel they were building collapsed.

Excavators have been removing debris since Sunday morning from the site in the Himalayan state of Uttarakhand to create an escape tunnel for the 40 workers, who are all alive.

“Our biggest breakthrough is that we have established contact and there is a supply of oxygen and food,” Uttarkashi district’s top civil servant Abhishek Ruhela told AFP on Tuesday.

“Whatever is necessary for their survival is being done.”

Oxygen was being pumped into the tunnel and small food items such as dry fruit were being provided to the workers, he added.

The State Disaster Response Force said Tuesday rescuers had spoken to the trapped workers via radio.

Ranjit Kumar Sinha, a senior disaster management official, told reporters at the site he was hopeful the workers could be freed by Wednesday, adding that there was enough oxygen where they were trapped “for about five to six days”.

The son of one of the trapped workers, Akash Singh Negi, managed to speak to his father on Tuesday.

“I was allowed to speak to my father for a few seconds using the pipe through which oxygen is being supplied to the stranded workers,” Negi was quoted as saying by the Press Trust of India news agency.

“He said they were safe and asked us not to worry,” Negi said.

‘Huge amount of debris’ 

Construction worker Hemant Nayak told AFP that he had been in the tunnel early on Sunday when the roof caved in, but he had been on the right side of the collapse and escaped.

Small amounts of dirt had been falling into the tunnel, but “everyone took it lightly”, he said.

“Then suddenly a huge amount of debris came and the tunnel was closed,” he added.

Photos released by government rescue teams soon after the collapse showed huge piles of rubble blocking the wide tunnel, with twisted metal bars from its roof poking down in front of slabs of concrete.

Teams are using heavy machinery to drive a steel pipe with a width of 90 centimetres, wide enough for the trapped men to squeeze through the rubble, the government’s highway and infrastructure company said.

The 4.5 kilometre tunnel is being constructed between the towns of Silkyara and Dandalgaon to connect Uttarkashi and Yamunotri, two of the holiest Hindu shrines.

The tunnel is part of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s road project aimed at improving travel conditions between some of the most popular Hindu shrines in the country as well as areas bordering China.

Experts have warned about the impact of extensive construction in Uttarakhand, where large parts of the state are prone to landslides.

“The government must reconsider all ongoing tunnel projects in the Himalayan states,” said environmentalist Suresh Bhai, from the advocacy group Himalaya Bachao Abhiyan, or Save Himalaya Campaign, the Times of India newspaper quoted him as saying.

“Tunnel projects in the Himalayas should be prohibited entirely. They render the mountains vulnerable,” he added.

Accidents on large infrastructure projects are common in India.

In January, at least 200 people were killed in flash floods in ecologically fragile Uttarakhand in a disaster that experts partly blamed on excessive development.

SAINT-OMER, FRANCE — Around 250 municipalities in northern France will be declared in a state of natural disaster due to massive flooding, President Emmanuel Macron said on Tuesday as he visited affected areas fearing further rises in the water level.

Communities in the Pas-de-Calais and Nord departments have suffered days of heavy rain, rivers breaking their banks and floods, and the water may rise further in the coming days before some residents have even returned to their homes.

“Every municipality that has asked for it” would be declared in a state of disaster, Macron said — a figure totalling 214 in the Pas-de-Calais department and around 30 in the Nord.

He added that the government would grant access to a 50 million-euro ($54 million) “support fund” for affected towns and villages.

The region has suffered in quick succession the effects of Storm Ciaran on November 2, record water levels in rivers on November 7 and heavy rain on Thursday and Friday.

On Tuesday, weather authority Meteo France placed Pas-de-Calais on orange alert — the second-highest — for heavy rains and flooding, while all seven of the department’s rivers are at the same alert level.

Schools have been closed in 279 municipalities for the second day in a row.

“People are very worried, upset, they’re on edge,” said Jean-Christophe Castelain, deputy mayor of Blendecques, a small town just south of Calais where Macron is expected to visit later Tuesday.

“Around 50 people were still sleeping in our shelter space” overnight after 862 homes were affected by flooding, he added, with “no good news forecast for the coming days”.

“It’s good that Mr Macron is making the trip to come and see what’s happening. But something has to be done,” said local resident Corinne Baroux, who had volunteered to help the evacuees sheltering in a local gym.

Fabienne Berquier, president of the Red Cross in the Pas-de-Calais, said that the aid group was “setting up shelters again” around the nearby town of Saint-Omer.

The Nord department has meanwhile seen 10,000 cases of flood damage and 1,391 evacuations since November 6.

Food aid group Les Restos du Coeur has made an “urgent” appeal for food donations and volunteers to distribute clothing, blankets and other supplies.

GENEVA — Flags flew at half-mast at UN compounds across the globe on Monday, as staff observed a minute's silence for the more than 100 colleagues killed in Gaza during the Israel-Hamas war.

The blue and white United Nations flag was first lowered at 9:30am local time at offices in Bangkok, Tokyo and Beijing, and later, other UN offices followed suit.

The UN agency for supporting Palestinian refugees (UNRWA) announced on Friday that 101 of its employees had died in the Gaza Strip since the war erupted just over a month ago.

And on Sunday, the UN reported "a significant number of deaths and injuries" in strikes on one of its facilities in Gaza.

"UNRWA staff in Gaza appreciate the UN lowering the flag around the world," the agency director in the Gaza Strip Tom White, said in a statement.

"In Gaza however, we have to keep the UN flag flying high as a sign that we are still standing and serving the people of Gaza."

Israel has been relentlessly bombarding the Gaza Strip since October 7. More than 11,000 people, most of them civilians and many of them children, have been killed in Gaza in strikes by Israel, according to the health ministry in Gaza.

In Geneva, the second-largest UN headquarters after New York, the UN flag on Monday flew at half-mast and none of the other flags of the 193 member countries were hoisted along the main alley of the compound.

Staff were also invited to hold a "private" minute of silence, spokesman Rolando Gomez said.

"Over the last month, 101 of our colleagues have lost their lives in Gaza," Tatiana Valovaya, director-general of the UN Office at Geneva, told the dozens of staff members gathered for the ceremony.

"This is the highest number of aid workers killed in the history of our organisation in such a short time."

Events were also held in Kathmandu and Kabul, where the UN Secretary-General's Special Representative for Afghanistan Roza Otunbayeva led about 250 people in observing the minute's silence.

WARSAW — Poland’s pro-EU parties scored a first win in the new parliament on Monday after general elections in October with their candidate elected speaker of the lower house, the country’s second most important post.

Szymon Holownia won the vote widely seen as a litmus test for three parties bidding to form a government and oust the conservative and populist Law and Justice (PiS) Party.

“After this vote, no one can doubt that there is a majority in this parliament ready to take power,” said Holownia, a former TV host who launched his own centrist party.

He got 265 votes against 193 for the PiS candidate Elzbieta Witek in the 460-seat house.

The parliament speaker’s post is the number two position in the country as per the constitution. The speaker replaces the president in case of death.

The first parliament session after the election comes as both the opposition and governing populists bid to take power.

The PiS fell short of a ruling majority despite finishing first in the election — but was given the first shot at forming the government by conservative President Andrzej Duda.

In his opening speech to parliament, Duda declared his “readiness” to cooperate with new lawmakers as he praised his PiS allies for the “eight good years” they had spent in power.

Duda had earlier said he would ask current Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki to form a government, a task analysts say he has no chance of fulfilling.

Morawiecki formally resigned on Monday but is expected to be officially tapped as the prime ministerial candidate in the evening.

In a eurosceptic speech to lawmakers, Morawiecki sought to win over support from the opposition, claiming Polish “sovereignty” and “independence” were at stake.

Three pro-EU parties led by ex-prime minister and former European Council President Donald Tusk won enough votes for a majority and are gearing up to form a government, though they first will have to wait for PiS’s efforts to fail.

“This is an unprecedented situation in more than 30 years of the history of democratic Poland,” said Stanislaw Mocek, a sociologist and president of the Collegium Civitas university in Warsaw.

PiS holds 194 seats in the lower chamber, compared to 248 seats for the pro-EU opposition.

‘Destined to fail’ 

PiS has said it will “do everything” to be able to form a new government within the constitutionally allocated 14 days.

It will then have to pass a vote of confidence within 14 days.

“This mission is destined to fail,” Mocek said, adding that PiS was just “playing for time” to receive additional financing, put their people in key posts and “ensure a soft landing” when it goes into the opposition.

Jaroslaw Kuisz, a political analyst, said PiS could simply “wait” for its next chance and “sow discord between allies” in the pro-EU coalition likely to form the next government.

The leaders of the pro-EU parties — including one co-headed by Holownia — signed a formal coalition agreement on Friday to serve as a “roadmap” for the alliance once it comes to power.

“We really wanted Polish women and men... to see that we are ready to take responsibility for our homeland and for the coming years,” Tusk said.

Wlodzimierz Czarzasty, a co-leader of the bloc’s Left party, said “the most important thing now is to make Poland tolerant, open, law-abiding, responsible”, calling for Warsaw to have a “strong place” within the European Union.

The agreement presents the coalition’s position on key issues like the economic and environmental management of the country, rebuilding good relations with the EU, reforming state media, separation of church and state, and abortion.

If Morawiecki fails to form a government, the next candidate would be nominated by the parliament.

Analysts estimate that the current opposition would only be able to take power from mid-December.

LONDON — Former UK leader David Cameron sensationally returned to the British government as foreign secretary on Monday, as Prime Minister Rishi Sunak shook up his top team with a general election looming next year.

Cameron’s comeback from the political wilderness came as Sunak sacked right-wing firebrand Suella Braverman as interior minister to assert his authority over the Conservative Party, which trail the Labour opposition in polls.

James Cleverly moved from the foreign ministry to succeed Braverman after critics accused her of heightening tensions during weeks of contentious pro-Palestinian demonstrations and counter-protests.

Cameron quit as prime minister in 2016 after losing the Brexit referendum, standing down as an MP that year, before later becoming mired in a lobbying scandal that was seen as tarnishing his reputation.

The former leader, whose foreign policy record as prime minister is viewed as chequered at best, said he “gladly accepted” his new role as Britain faced “a daunting set of international challenges”.

“While I have been out of front-line politics for the last seven years, I hope that my experience — as Conservative leader for 11 years and prime minister for six — will assist me in helping the prime minister to meet these vital challenges,” Cameron added, citing the Hamas-Israel war and Russia’s conflict in Ukraine.

Cameron will be made a life peer in the House of Lords — Britain’s unelected upper chamber of parliament — Downing Street announced, making him eligible to sit in government.

The last lord as foreign secretary was Peter Carrington, who quit Margaret Thatcher’s government after Argentina invaded the Falkland Islands in 1982.

Cameron was instrumental in leading western countries’ intervention in Libya in 2011, which helped overthrow Muammar Qadhafi but was seen as aiding the North African country’s descent into political and economic collapse.

In 2013 he became the first prime minister in over 150 years to lose a parliamentary vote on military action when MPs failed to back his plan for strikes on Syria following a chemical attack by Damascus.

Cameron became mired in scandal in 2021, after lobbying the UK government for finance group Greensill Capital, which later collapsed.

He and Sunak have also clashed publicly on big issues. Last year, Sunak suggested that a “golden era” of warm relations between Britain and China during Cameron’s 2010-2016 tenure had been “naive”.

And Cameron recently slammed Sunak’s decision to scrap a key part of a high-speed rail project.

“Though I may have disagreed with some individual decisions, it is clear to me that Rishi Sunak is a strong and capable prime minister, who is showing exemplary leadership at a difficult time,” Cameron said on Monday.

‘Privilege’ -

His shock return surprised even political commentators, who noted it was at odds with Sunak’s recent pitch at the Tory conference to end the “30-year status quo” in British politics.

Tim Bale, politics professor at Queen Mary University of London, said Sunak was likely drawn to Cameron’s “clout on the international stage” and hoped to appeal to increasingly dissatisfied moderate voters.

“I’m very sceptical that it’ll make much difference on that or any other score,” he noted. “It looks desperate — because that is what it is!” he told AFP.

Polling in September suggested 45 per cent of UK adults felt unfavourably towards Cameron, while only around a quarter held a favourable view.

The idea that the appointment formed part of Sunak positioning himself to fight the next election, which must be held by January 2025, on more centrist ground was aided by his dismissal of outspoken right-winger Braverman.

Her position became increasingly untenable after she last week wrote an explosive newspaper article, without Sunak’s approval, accusing police of bias towards left-wing causes.

Critics said her comments had encouraged far-right protesters to hold counter demos on the sidelines of the main march on Armistice Day on Saturday.

Downing Street launched an investigation into how the article was published without its consent, as required by the ministerial code.

Braverman stoked controversy throughout her tenure, regularly wading into so-called “culture wars” issues, reportedly harbours ambitions of one day leading the Tories.

She described homelessness as a “lifestyle choice” and has attacked her critics as liberal “tofu-eating wokerati”.

She also called sending asylum seekers to Rwanda her “dream” and “obsession”.

Following her dismissal, Braverman said “it has been the greatest privilege of my life to serve as home secretary”.

But she warned ominously: “I will have more to say in due course.”