2 days ago
- Politics
- South China Morning Post
5 men deported to eSwatini from US spark public outcry, protests
In the small African kingdom of eSwatini, the arrival of five men deported from the United States under Washington's aggressive anti-immigrant measures has sparked a rare wave of public dissent.
The five nationals of Vietnam, Laos, Yemen, Cuba and Jamaica, were flown to Eswatini's administrative capital of Mbabane on July 16 on a US military plane and incarcerated after US authorities labelled them 'criminal illegal aliens'.
The US Department of Homeland Security said the men were convicted of violent crimes 'so uniquely barbaric that their home countries refused to take them back.'
The government of eSwatini, formerly known as Swaziland, has confirmed their presence.
But spokesman Thabile Mdluli said they would not stay permanently and 'will be repatriated in due course to their different countries.'
That assurance, though, has not quelled a tide of questions and concerns that have risen within the kingdom about the operation.
