The United States has transferred four more foreign nationals to Eswatini under a secretive third‑country prisoner‑removal programme, bringing to 19 the number of people sent to the southern African kingdom since mid‑2025.
Amnesty International said the men – two Somalis, a Tanzanian and a Sudanese – arrived late on 11 March on a flight from Phoenix, Arizona, and were taken to the maximum‑security Matsapha Correctional Complex.
“This latest unlawful transfer makes clear that the United States is continuing to send people to Eswatini under a secretive third-country removal arrangement, and that Eswatini is continuing to hold them in unlawful detention without transparency or adequate legal safeguards,” said Vongai Chikwanda, Amnesty International deputy regional director for East and Southern Africa.
She urged Eswatini to disclose the legal basis for the detentions and allow detainees confidential access to lawyers and family members.
The removals form part of a May 2025 Memorandum of Understanding under which Eswatini agreed to accept up to 160 third‑country nationals expelled from the US in exchange for US$5.1 million to strengthen its border and migration systems.
The first group of five detainees arrived in July 2025, followed by 10 more in October.
Several of those previously transferred have since filed a complaint with the African Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights, alleging unlawful prolonged detention.
Human‑rights organisations say the programme risks exposing detainees to arbitrary imprisonment, onward refoulement and other abuses in a country where political freedoms remain tightly restricted under an absolute monarchy.
Amnesty has called on both governments to end what it describes as a “deeply abusive” practice.
Eswatini has not publicly commented on the latest arrivals and the US has provided little information about the criteria used to select detainees or the process determining their fate once transferred.
JN/APA