Mbabane: In the small African kingdom of Eswatini, the arrival of five men deported from the United States under Washington's aggressive anti-immigrant measures has sparked a rare wave of public dissent.
According to France24.com, the five men, nationals of Vietnam, Laos, Yemen, Cuba, and Jamaica, were flown to Eswatini's administrative capital of Mbabane on July 16 on a US military plane and incarcerated after US authorities labeled them "criminal illegal aliens." The US Department of Homeland Security stated that the men were convicted of violent crimes "so uniquely barbaric that their home countries refused to take them back."
Civic and rights groups in Eswatini are questioning whether more deportees from the United States will arrive and what rights the five detained men have. Public outrage at the lack of transparency led to 150 women protesting outside the US embassy in Mbabane. The protest, organized by the Eswatini Women's Movement, demanded that the prisoners be returned to the United States and questioned the legal basis on which Eswatini accepted them.
The five men are currently being held in the Matsapha Correctional Centre, located 30 kilometers south of Mbabane. The facility, notorious for holding political prisoners and overcrowding, has been undergoing renovations and expansions since 2018, reportedly funded by the United States as part of a program covering all 14 of the country's penal centers.
Sources within the penitentiary administration revealed that the men are held in solitary confinement in a high-security section of the facility, with requests to make phone calls being denied. Despite these conditions, the sources noted that the men have access to medical care and the same meals as the thousand other inmates, as well as a toilet, shower, and television in their cells.
Prime Minister Russell Dlamini has dismissed calls for transparency regarding the agreement with Washington, stating, "Not every decision or agreement is supposed to be publicly shared." Eswatini is the second African country to receive such deportees from the United States, following South Sudan, which accepted eight individuals earlier this month.
The situation has sparked concerns about the potential implications for Eswatini, a country already grappling with its own challenges under the absolute monarchy of King Mswati III. The 57-year-old ruler has been criticized for his lavish lifestyle and faced accusations of human rights violations.
US President Donald Trump has used the threat of high tariffs against other countries, such as Colombia, to coerce them into accepting people deported from America. Eswatini is currently facing a baseline US tariff of 10 percent, which the government has said will negatively impact the economy.
Trump's administration has turned to third-country deportations when the home nations of some individuals refuse to accept them. Rights experts have warned that these US deportations risk breaking international law by sending people to nations where they face the risk of torture, abduction, and other abuses.