The Democratic Republic of Congo will receive third-country nationals deported from the United States under a new deal with the Trump administration, the government in Kinshasa said in a statement on Sunday.
The decision was announced by the Congolese government as part of an agreement reached with Washington, after the latest talks in a string of ongoing discussions.
The Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) is preparing to welcome, starting this month, third-country nationals deported from the United States.
This measure is for now presented as temporary, and falls within the framework of American immigration mechanisms, without specifying the number of people involved, RFI's correspondent in Kinshasa reported.
Kinshasa assured in a statement however that this operation would be entirely financed by the US, without impacting the Congolese public treasury.
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Already prepared
Facilities have already been prepared near the capital Kinshasa to accommodate the deportees, the government statement said.
The Congolese government emphasises that this is neither a permanent relocation program nor an outsourcing of US immigration policy.
Each case will be reviewed individually, in accordance with Congolese law and national security requirements, the government stated. No automatic transfers will be permitted.
The agreement coincides with an effort by the Trump administration to implement a peace deal between Congo and Rwanda and an agreement ensuring US access to Congolese critical minerals.
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The press statement did not mention any direct financial or material compensation from the US to the DRC, this agreement coming within a context of strengthened cooperation between the two countries.
This cooperation extends to the economic sphere, with a minerals-for-security agreement, and to the health sector, with a pledge of $900 million from the United States.
Criticism
The United States has started sending third-country deportees to several African countries in the past year, including Ghana, Cameroon, Equatorial Guinea, Eswatini and Rwanda, drawing criticism from legal experts and rights groups.
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Civil society in the DRC said the agreement should not be implemented, amid fears that the country is already struggling to manage its own internally displaced persons and security problems.
Timothée Mbuya of the NGO Justicia ASBL points to the lack of transparency in this agreement.
"Neither the Congolese population, nor the national deputies and senators, were informed," he told RFI. "There has also been no public debate surrounding these agreements," he continued.
"Congo is not a dumping ground for individuals or people who are rejected or not accepted in other countries. Our country does not have sufficient infrastructure to accommodate this type of person."
Other voices from civil society add that the priority should be to take care of the more than six million Congolese who are internally displaced.
