Eswatini confirms it received millions for accepting US deportees

Eswatini has confirmed for the first time that it received $5.1 million from the United States in exchange for accepting third-country deportees.

The kingdom, led by absolute monarch King Mswati III, has come in for heavy criticism from rights groups for striking the deal with President Donald Trump's administration.

Details of the agreement have not been disclosed, and the government is facing court action from human rights lawyers who claim the secretive deal is unconstitutional.

Eswatini is one of several African nations that have agreed to receive deportees as part of Trump's aggressive crackdown on illegal immigration.

Its finance minister on Tuesday said the money has been funnelled into the account of the country’s National Disaster Management Agency (NDMA).

But he has been quoted as saying that the NDMA was not allowed to use the money as it had not been allocated to it by the government, and that the payment still needs to regularised.

Washington has sent at least 15 people to Eswatini so far, ith the agreement reportedly providing for the arrival of up to 160.

One of them has since been repatriated to Jamaica, his country of origin, which the rest are being held in detention.

Lawyers and civil society groups in Eswatini have gone to court to challenge the legality of the detentions