By Clement Bonnerot, Robbie Corey-Boulet and Giulia Paravicini
DAKAR, April 14 (Reuters) – Democratic Republic of Congo is set to receive more than 30 deportees from the United States this week, four sources told Reuters, the latest example of Washington using agreements with African governments to accelerate migrant removals.
The deportees are all from countries other than Congo, and at least some are from Central and South America, according to one source and U.S. court documents. One source familiar with the matter said they would total 37, while another put the figure at 45.
They will be the first to land in the Central African country as part of an agreement with the Trump administration announced on April 5, two days after Reuters reported the two countries were negotiating a deal for Congo to receive third-country deportees.
The move coincides with the Trump administration’s efforts to implement a U.S.-brokered peace deal between Congo and Rwanda aimed at ending fighting with Rwanda-backed M23 rebels in eastern Congo that has killed thousands and displaced hundreds of thousands more. It also follows the signing of a strategic partnership granting the United States preferential access to Congo’s critical minerals.
The timing of the arrival of the deportees and details on how they will be accommodated in Congo have not been previously reported.
The deportees are expected to reach Congo by Friday and be housed in a hotel near Kinshasa’s main airport, three of the sources said, speaking on condition of anonymity because of the sensitive nature of the move, which has attracted criticism from human rights groups and opposition politicians in Congo.
The U.S. has previously sent third-country deportees to African states including Ghana, Cameroon, Equatorial Guinea and Eswatini, drawing criticism from legal experts and rights groups over the legal basis for the transfers and the treatment of deportees sent to countries where they are not nationals.
Some of the deportees were later returned to their home countries despite receiving court-ordered protection in the U.S. meant to prevent that from happening.
A Congolese government spokesperson did not immediately respond to requests for comment on Tuesday. Kinshasa has previously stressed it will not spend any money as part of its third-country deportees deal with the United States.
A State Department spokesperson said Washington had “no comment on the details of our diplomatic communications with other governments.”
LONG-TERM PLAN UNCLEAR
The hotel near the airport in Kinshasa is due to house the deportees for only 10 to 15 days, one of the sources told Reuters. The source was unable to say what will happen to the deportees after that period.
The hotel will remain open to other guests and the deportees will be free to move around, a diplomat and a senior humanitarian source said.
The deportees will be accommodated in single rooms, with two meals a day provided. The site is being secured by Congo’s national police and a private security firm.
Neither Washington nor Kinshasa has said how many deportees would ultimately be sent to Congo.
U.N. AGENCY TO AID DEPORTEES
The deportees arriving this week will receive assistance from the U.N.-related International Organization for Migration (IOM), two sources said.
IOM has also provided assistance to third-country deportees sent from the U.S. to Eswatini and Cameroon.
IOM said in a statement it had no role in the deportations themselves, which it said were handled by the two governments. It said it could, at the request of Congolese authorities, provide “post-arrival humanitarian assistance”.
An IOM source told Reuters earlier this month that the U.S.-Congo deportation deal could involve migrants from South America, including Venezuelans.
Reuters identified at least four migrants whose lawyers were told by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement that they would be deported to Congo this week. They are from Colombia, Peru, Chile and Guatemala.
An April 8 court order from a federal judge in California, reviewed by Reuters, said the U.S. government planned to remove a Peruvian migrant to Congo. The migrant had his request for asylum rejected but had been granted protection against deportation to Peru because he feared persecution.
(Reporting by Clement Bonnerot and Robbie Corey-Boulet in Dakar and Giulia Paravicini in Nairobi; Editing by Rosalba O’Brien)
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