Fifteen migrants expelled from the United States have arrived by plane in DR Congo’s capital, the UN said Friday, under Washington’s immigration crackdown.
The arrivals in Kinshasa overnight Thursday to Friday are the first in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), the latest African nation to accept expelled migrants from the US.
Since President Donald Trump returned to the White House last year, his administration has negotiated several expulsion agreements, which have been fiercely criticised by rights groups.
Little information is provided by the authorities in the countries accepting the deportees about their fate.
They are often not from those countries.
Washington has previously sent foreigners to Equatorial Guinea, Ghana, Rwanda, South Sudan, Cameroon and Eswatini.
The DRC asked the International Organization for Migration (IOM) to assist with 15 migrants who arrived in the country Friday after being expelled from the United States, the UN agency said.
“IOM has been requested by the government of the DRC to provide humanitarian assistance to 15 migrants removed by the United States to the DRC on April 17,” an agency spokesman told AFP, without providing details on the migrants’ nationalities.
“In addition to offering assistance based on needs and specific assessments, IOM may also offer assisted voluntary return to those migrants who request it, in line with its mandate and applicable legal frameworks,” the spokesperson said.
Seven women and eight men arrived on a flight from the United States, which landed just before midnight at Ndjili airport in the capital, a source close to the Congolese presidency said.
They are originally from Peru and Ecuador, the source said.
Other migrants expelled by the United States are due to arrive soon in Kinshasa, in groups of around 50 a month, sources close to the matter said.
The total number expected to be taken in by the DRC is currently unknown.
The arrangement negotiated between Washington and several African countries aims to remove migrants from American soil quickly, before sending them back to their countries of origin, one of the sources said.
The accord with the DRC comes after an agreement paving the way for Washington to gain access to the country’s rich mineral resources that are crucial for the electronics industry.
The United States has in return mediated talks aimed at ending years of bloody conflict in eastern DRC, although efforts have yet to stop the fighting on the ground.
Contacted by AFP, Congolese authorities have not so far confirmed the arrival of the first foreign migrants.
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