DR Congo is latest African nation to receive third-country deportees from US under deal

US President Donald Trump, left, and Democratic Republic of Congo President Felix Tshisekedi in Washington in December.

Photo: AFP DR Congo will receive some migrants as part of a new deal under the Trump administration’s third-country programme, its government said on Sunday, the latest such African nation to receive migrants being deported from the United States.

The deportees will start arriving in Democratic Republic of Congo this month, the Congolese Ministry of Communications said in a statement, without further details on the date or the number of deportees expected.

It described the arrangement as a “temporary” one that reflects DR Congo’s “commitment to human dignity and international solidarity”.

It would come with zero costs to the government with the United States covering the needed logistics, it said.

The US has struck such third-country deportation deals with at least seven other African nations, many of them among countries hit the most by the Trump administration’s policies that have restricted trade, aid and migration.

The Trump administration has spent at least US$40 million to deport about 300 migrants to countries other than their own, according to a report released recently by the Democratic staff of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee.

Lawyers and activists have raised questions over the nature of the deals with countries in Africa and elsewhere.

Several of the African nations that have signed such deals have notoriously repressive governments and poor human rights records – including eSwatini, South Sudan and Equatorial Guinea.

A key bone of contention in many such agreements is that they involve many migrants with protection orders from a US immigration judge not to be returned to their home countries over major safety concerns.

DR Congo’s government said no automatic transfer of the deportees is planned, adding: “Each situation will be subject to individual review in accordance with the laws of the Republic and national security requirements.” In December, US President Donald Trump met DR Congo’s President Felix Tshisekedi in Washington to discuss access to the region’s critical mineral re

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