African migrants forced to pay
^^^^^^^^LINK TO BBC NEWS ^^^^^^^
But Bahabelom soon found out he wasn't welcome in the east African country. No sooner had he landed in its capital, Kigali, than he was told he must leave again for neighbouring Uganda - and all for a fee.
It is not clear who was orchestrating his expulsion from Rwanda - and that of other migrants we have spoken to - but Bahabelom believes Rwandan officials were involved.
Rwanda's status as a safe destination for refugees has been questioned, after the UK signed a deal with the country to house asylum seekers who had landed on its shores.
Western nations have issued warnings about its human rights record
Bahabelom Mengesha, a 36-year-old Eritrean man, knows what it's like to be sent to Rwanda by another country. But his stay there as an asylum seeker was brief.
He had left Eritrea to escape the war in 2007 and moved to Israel to claim asylum. Seven years later, his permit was revoked and he was given a choice - be sent home, go to a migrant detention facility, or take $3,500 and a one-way flight to Rwanda.
It felt like no choice at all, he told the BBC, from Switzerland, where he has been living for the past seven years.
"No sane person would voluntarily go to prison," says Bahabelom of detention in Israel. "To go back to Eritrea, where imprisonment is part of the culture, this was [also] no option
^^^^^^^^LINK TO BBC NEWS ^^^^^^^
But Bahabelom soon found out he wasn't welcome in the east African country. No sooner had he landed in its capital, Kigali, than he was told he must leave again for neighbouring Uganda - and all for a fee.
It is not clear who was orchestrating his expulsion from Rwanda - and that of other migrants we have spoken to - but Bahabelom believes Rwandan officials were involved.
Rwanda's status as a safe destination for refugees has been questioned, after the UK signed a deal with the country to house asylum seekers who had landed on its shores.
Western nations have issued warnings about its human rights record
Bahabelom Mengesha, a 36-year-old Eritrean man, knows what it's like to be sent to Rwanda by another country. But his stay there as an asylum seeker was brief.
He had left Eritrea to escape the war in 2007 and moved to Israel to claim asylum. Seven years later, his permit was revoked and he was given a choice - be sent home, go to a migrant detention facility, or take $3,500 and a one-way flight to Rwanda.
It felt like no choice at all, he told the BBC, from Switzerland, where he has been living for the past seven years.
"No sane person would voluntarily go to prison," says Bahabelom of detention in Israel. "To go back to Eritrea, where imprisonment is part of the culture, this was [also] no option
