As Rwanda hosts Commonwealth summit, bloc’s role questioned

By RODNEY MUHUMUZA and IGNATIUS SSUUNA
Associated Press

KIGALI, Rwanda (AP) — Expectations are high in Rwanda as the East African nation prepares to host the Commonwealth Heads of Government summit. The meeting of world leaders from June 20 to 25  will focus attention on Rwanda’s widely criticized deal with Britain to deport asylum-seekers from the U.K. to Rwanda. Legal challenges stopped a flight that would have brought the first group just days before the summit. The spotlight is a chance to display Rwanda’s transformation under the long rule of President Paul Kagame.  But some question the relevance of the Commonwealth, a body of 54 nations of mostly former British colonies, and what the organization means for Africans.