The southern African kingdom of Eswatini has publicly confirmed its participation in a controversial United States deportation programme, revealing it received more than $5 million to accept individuals expelled from America.
Secretive Deal Unveiled
Finance Minister Neal Rijkenberg confirmed to parliament that the government had accepted $5.1 million from the Trump administration as part of an arrangement to accept deportees. The deal, struck between Washington and at least five African nations, has faced fierce criticism from human rights organisations.
According to documents revealed by Human Rights Watch in September and seen by AFP, Eswatini agreed to take 160 deportees in exchange for funding intended to build its border and migration management capacity. However, only 15 men have arrived in the country so far.
Detention Conditions and Legal Challenges
The first group of five men arrived in July aboard a chartered US military plane, with a second batch received in early October. Washington authorities described some deportees as convicted of serious crimes including child rape and murder.
These individuals are being held without charge in Eswatini's maximum-security Matsapha correctional centre, a facility notorious for detaining political prisoners according to their legal representatives. One deportee, a 62-year-old Jamaican man who had reportedly completed a murder sentence in the US, was returned to Jamaica in September.
Lawyers and civil society groups in Eswatini have initiated legal proceedings to challenge the legality of the detentions, questioning the constitutional basis for holding individuals without charge.
Funding Controversy and Political Fallout
Minister Rijkenberg disclosed that the American funds were directed into the account of Eswatini's National Disaster Management Agency (NDMA), despite the agency not being authorised to use money that hasn't been formally appropriated. He vowed to regularise this irregular financial process.
Significantly, Rijkenberg revealed that his ministry had been kept unaware of the arrangement throughout the process. We were told it was for the US deportees after we enquired, he told parliament, highlighting the secretive nature of the agreement.
It remains unclear which Eswatini officials originally authorised the deal with the United States. The country, formerly known as Swaziland, remains Africa's last absolute monarchy under King Mswati III, whose government has faced repeated accusations of human rights violations.
