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Eswatini has confirmed receiving over $5 million from the United States to accept deportees as part of Washington’s controversial mass expulsion programme.
The southern African kingdom, one of the continent’s smallest nations, has so far received 15 men under the largely secretive third-country deportation scheme agreed to by President Donald Trump’s administration.
At least five African countries were involved in similar arrangements, which have drawn strong criticism from rights groups.
A document revealed by Human Rights Watch in September indicated that Eswatini had agreed to accept 160 deportees in exchange for $5.1 million, intended to enhance its border and migration management capabilities.
Finance Minister Neal Rijkenberg confirmed in parliament on Monday that the government had received the funds, noting that the ministry had not been fully informed throughout the negotiations.
“We were told it was for the US deportees after we enquired,” he said.
The first group of five deportees arrived in July on a chartered US military plane, followed by a second batch in early October. Washington labelled some of the deportees as serious criminals, with convictions for offences including child rape and murder.
Those currently held are being detained at Eswatini’s maximum-security Matsapha Correctional Centre, notorious for its detention of political prisoners, according to their lawyers.
One 62-year-old Jamaican, who had completed a murder sentence in the United States, was returned to Jamaica in September. Lawyers and civil society organisations in Eswatini have since challenged the legality of the detentions in court.
Rijkenberg said the US funds had been deposited into the account of Eswatini’s National Disaster Management Agency (NDMA), but stressed that the money cannot be used without formal appropriation, promising to regularise the process.
It remains unclear who officially signed the agreement with the United States. Formerly known as Swaziland, Eswatini is Africa’s last absolute monarchy and has been ruled by King Mswati III since 1986.
The government has faced repeated allegations of human rights abuses.
