Seven people have arrived in Rwanda as part of a deal to accept deportees from the US, the Rwandan government has said.
The Trump administration has been negotiating arrangements to send people to third countries including South Sudan and Eswatini, formerly Swaziland, as part of its wider deportation drive.
“The first group of seven vetted migrants arrived in Rwanda in mid-August … Three of the individuals have expressed a desire to return to their home countries, while four wish to stay and build lives in Rwanda,” Yolande Makolo, a government spokesperson, said on Thursday.
Officials offered no information on the nationalities of the seven deportees.
Rwanda said on 5 August it would accept up to 250 people from the US and that it would have “the ability to approve each individual proposed for resettlement”.
Makolo said the first arrivals would be “accommodated by an international organisation”, with visits by the International Organization for Migration (IOM) and Rwandan social services.
An IOM spokesperson confirmed they had visited the new arrivals to “assess their basic needs”. They did not give any further details.
Rwanda signed a lucrative deal in 2022 to accept migrants from Britain, only for the agreement to be scrapped when Labour came to power last year.
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Kigali agreed to the scheme with Washington because “nearly every Rwandan family has experienced the hardships of displacement”, Makolo said earlier this month. Those who arrived in Rwanda would be provided with training, healthcare and accommodation, she added.
A Rwandan activist who asked for anonymity given the increasing pressure on civil dissent in the country said the deal came down to money and political influence.
“Accepting these deportees also gives Rwanda an advantage in the ongoing peace negotiations regarding the conflict in DRC [the Democratic Republic of the Congo],” they said.
DRC is holding peace talks with the Rwanda-backed M23 militia, which launched a sweeping offensive earlier this year and seized swathes of the country’s east.
The Trump administration has said third-country deportations are necessary because home nations sometimes refuse to accept the deportees.
Rights experts have said the deportations may break international law by sending people to countries where they face the risk of torture, abduction and other abuses.
Rwanda, which has a population of 14 million people, claims to be one of the most stable countries in Africa and has drawn praise for its modern infrastructure. However, the agreement with Britain drew criticism from rights groups and faced a long-running legal challenge.
President Paul Kagame’s government has been accused of human rights violations and of crushing political dissent and press freedoms.
