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A group of nine migrants from four African countries arrived in Cameroon this week after being expelled from the United States, marking the third such flight under a bilateral arrangement between Washington and Yaoundé, lawyers told AFP on Thursday.
The deportees landed on Wednesday and included six women and three men originating from Ghana, Angola, Ethiopia and Congo-Brazzaville, according to Alma David, a US-based immigration lawyer.
Joseph Awah Fru, a Cameroonian lawyer who has monitored the previous arrivals in Yaoundé, confirmed to AFP that the third flight touched down as described.
The New York Times has reported that the United States is paying Cameroon $30 million to participate in the programme.
Several other African nations have struck similar deals, including Equatorial Guinea, Ghana, Rwanda, South Sudan, Eswatini and the Democratic Republic of Congo.
Under the controversial scheme, undocumented migrants who cannot be deported directly to their home countries due to safety concerns or court rulings are instead sent to a third country, which may then expel them.
Of the 17 migrants sent to Cameroon on earlier flights, four have already been transferred to their home countries: Morocco, Angola and Senegal.
Two Moroccan women, among them, had won rulings in US courts that their safety would be at risk if returned to Morocco. Despite those findings, they were sent back and are now living in hiding there, Awah said.
The remaining 13 individuals from the earlier groups are staying at a facility managed by Cameroonian authorities in coordination with the International Organisation for Migration (IOM). They will have the option to apply for asylum in Cameroon.
In September, Human Rights Watch condemned such expulsions, stating that they are carried out under “opaque agreements” that violate international law and should be rejected.
