---
title: "African states must refuse to be complicit in the US policy of ‘third-country removals’"
description: "More than 100 people have been forcibly removed and deported from the US to third countries in Africa where they suffer rights abuses and loss of liberty."
type: "NewsArticle"
publisher: "Daily Maverick"
site: "https://www.dailymaverick.co.za"
section: "HUMAN RIGHTS OP-ED"
author: "Marceau Sivieude and Tigere Chagutah"
author_url: "https://www.dailymaverick.co.za/author/marceau-sivieude-and-tigere-chagutah/"
canonical_url: "https://www.dailymaverick.co.za/article/2026-08-04-african-states-must-refuse-to-be-complicit-in-the-us-policy-of-third-country-removals/"
published: "2026-08-04T11:04:15"
updated: "2026-08-04T11:26:44"
lang: "en-ZA"
word_count: 1069
---

# African states must refuse to be complicit in the US policy of ‘third-country removals’

> More than 100 people have been forcibly removed and deported from the US to third countries in Africa where they suffer rights abuses and loss of liberty.

By Marceau Sivieude and Tigere Chagutah · Published 4 August 2026, 13:04 SAST · Updated 4 August 2026, 13:26 SAST

## Key points
- Washington is outsourcing deportations: 100+ people — including 17 flown to Bangui — were sent to African “third countries”, many at risk of refoulement.
- Secret, cash‑for‑removals pacts with 13 sub‑Saharan states (CAR, Ghana, Rwanda, Uganda among them) were negotiated alongside trade and aid, with $32m‑plus paid.
- Deportees face detention in prisons, military camps and hotels, blocked from lawyers or asylum, and exposed to arrest, violence and even death.
- Amnesty and the African Commission demand leaders refuse complicity: cancel/scrutinise deals, protect migrants and uphold non‑refoulement — no cash can justify this.

## Content

![Image](https://cdn.dailymaverick.co.za/i/gNZKiZPF4-YQh91yyhtjMukrWaY=/200x100/smart/filters:strip_exif\(\)/file/dailymaverick/wp-content/uploads/2025/10/label-Op-Ed.jpg)

On 12 June, a group of 17 people – among them Turks, Afghans and Iranians – were forcibly removed from the US and flown to Bangui, in the Central African Republic, a country where they have no ties and whose language they do not speak.

According to [Third Country Deportation Watch](https://www.thirdcountrydeportationwatch.org/central-african-republic), all but one of these people had been granted protection in the US from being forcibly returned to their home country. Yet being sent back to their country of origin is what they risked once arriving in Bangui, in breach of the principle of [non-refoulement](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Non-refoulement) under international law.

More than 100 people have been put on planes by US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officials and sent to third countries in Africa over the past year. This inhumane, unlawful policy not only violates the due process guarantees that individuals are entitled to before removal, but also exposes them to human rights violations in the country to which they are transferred.

The Central African Republic is one of 13 sub-Saharan African countries known to have signed a third-country removal [agreement](https://www.amnesty.org/en/latest/campaigns/2026/06/how-do-us-third-country-removals-work-and-are-they-legal/) with the US – joining the ranks of Burundi, Cameroon, Cape Verde, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Equatorial Guinea, Eswatini, Ghana, Liberia, Rwanda, Sierra Leone, South Sudan and Uganda.

These agreements with third countries enable the US government to remove people it wants out of its territory – even, and including, those who are in the midst of their immigration proceedings and who have been granted legal protection preventing their return to their country of origin because of the risk of torture there.

These harmful removals are the culmination of the Trump administration’s [cruel and racist](https://www.congress.gov/119/meeting/house/117980/documents/HHRG-119-GO00-20250305-SD031.pdf) anti-immigrant policies, which continue to spread terror among migrants and others with protection concerns, as well as racialised communities who face arrest based on racial profiling.

![oped-Sivieude-deportations](https://cdn.dailymaverick.co.za/i/MYQFuRK0-7SHbnJRKPocqd7JWkM=/200x100/smart/filters:strip_exif\(\)/file/attachments/orphans/GettyImages-2288061756_323498.jpg)

*City employees, activists and local politicians pass out information in an area of Brooklyn known as 'Little Haiti' on how to respond if Immigration and Customs Enforcement's (ICE) arrives in the neighborhood on July 28, 2026, in New York City. The Supreme Court ruled in June to allow the Trump Administration to end Temporary Protected Status to over 300,000 Haitian nationals. (Photo: Spencer Platt / Getty Images)*

More than 10 people have been [shot and killed](https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2026/jul/09/ice-immigration-shooting-deaths-trump) during enforcement actions by ICE officers, thousands of migrants and asylum seekers have been detained, including children, in dire conditions lacking adequate sanitation and medical care. More than 50 people [have died in detention](https://www.hrw.org/report/2026/06/25/dying-in-detention/rising-deaths-in-an-expanding-us-immigration-detention-system) since January 2025. People also face immense difficulties in challenging the forced removal orders against them. Many have even been forcibly removed whilst their cases were still under review by a court.

Those removed to African countries, in breach of their rights, suffer further violations of their human rights in the host country. They are deprived of their liberty in prisons, hotels, airports and other places, such as the Bundase military camp in Ghana, where 11 individuals were held in poor conditions for around two weeks in September 2025 before being forcibly transferred to Togo.

In many cases documented by Amnesty International, people who are moved to African countries do not have access to independent legal representation.

In [Eswatini](https://www.amnesty.org/en/latest/news/2026/04/eswatini-supreme-court-ruling-on-legal-access-offers-limited-relief-for-us-deportees/), four of the first people transferred from the US were denied in-person access to a local lawyer for nine months until the Supreme Court upheld an order requiring the authorities to grant such access. In South Sudan, people have been arbitrarily detained for almost a year in an undisclosed location with no physical access to their lawyers. In Cameroon, a lawyer seeking to represent removed individuals was arbitrarily arrested.

In some documented cases, as in Sierra Leone, removed individuals are unable to apply for asylum. In others, they may face danger due to their sexual orientation in countries where homosexuality is criminalised. There is a lack of transparency and due process surrounding the handling of their cases and the decisions that can lead them to be sent back to danger in their country of origin.

![oped-Sivieude-deportations](https://cdn.dailymaverick.co.za/i/8jNGzp8XWCa4xysCDYY9r6BXo-c=/200x100/smart/filters:strip_exif\(\)/file/attachments/orphans/GettyImages-923520988_544467.jpg)

*Police stand guard as demonstrators protest deportations at the Gary-Chicago International Airport on February 23, 2018 in Gary, Indiana. Immigrants from Wisconsin, Indiana and Illinois are bussed to the airport from detention centers and put on deportation flights. (Photo: Scott Olson / Getty Images)*

### **Secrecy**

These human rights violations stem from the secrecy around third-country agreements, which are signed behind closed doors and generally not made fully public. In some cases, including Ghana and Sierra Leone, these agreements have not been scrutinised by national parliaments.

In [a report](https://www.foreign.senate.gov/press/dem/release/ranking-member-shaheen-major-new-report-on-true-cost-of-trump-administrations-third-country-deportation-deals) published on 13 February, US senators stated that more than $32-million had been paid directly to five third countries, three of which are in Africa, in return for the removals.

Diplomatic sources quoted by the Wall Street Journal stated that the signing of these agreements was part of the discussions on trade relations between the US and African countries. Many of these agreements are part of broader political negotiations characterised by asymmetrical power. For example, [Liberia](https://mcas-proxyweb.mcas.ms/certificate-checker?login=false&originalUrl=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.liberianobserver.com.mcas.ms%2Fnews%2Fliberia-u-s-govt-sign-124m-mou%2Farticle_1d4580bb-fe7d-4c60-baef-7959ed5dccbe.html%3FMcasTsid%3D15600&McasCSRF=50ff8929272e5a6afb341ae331290597027a690785f7a427b4b27486bc05d32c), [Rwanda](https://mcas-proxyweb.mcas.ms/certificate-checker?login=false&originalUrl=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.state.gov.mcas.ms%2Freleases%2Foffice-of-the-spokesperson%2F2025%2F12%2Fcontinuing-to-deliver-on-the-america-first-global-health-strategy-with-the-signing-of-the-united-states-rwanda-bilateral-health-cooperation-memorandum-of-understanding%3FMcasTsid%3D15600&McasCSRF=50ff8929272e5a6afb341ae331290597027a690785f7a427b4b27486bc05d32c) and [Uganda](https://mcas-proxyweb.mcas.ms/certificate-checker?login=false&originalUrl=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.reuters.com.mcas.ms%2Fbusiness%2Fhealthcare-pharmaceuticals%2Fuganda-receive-up-17-billion-us-funding-under-trump-health-plan-2025-12-10%2F%3FMcasTsid%3D15600&McasCSRF=50ff8929272e5a6afb341ae331290597027a690785f7a427b4b27486bc05d32c) signed third-country removals agreements, and managed to secure US investments in their health sector.

These third-country agreements appear all the more shameful and cynical for being part of a [US immigration policy](https://www.amnesty.org/en/latest/news/2025/06/usa-trumps-travel-ban-will-harm-people-seeking-safety/) that discriminates against nationals of sub-Saharan African countries. In December 2025, out of a total of 39 targeted countries, nationals from 12 sub-Saharan countries were subject to a total ban on entry to US territory, while those from 14 countries were subject to a partial ban — restrictions and obstacles that were brought to light during the 2026 Fifa Men’s World Cup.

The African Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights adopted a [resolution](https://achpr.au.int/en/adopted-resolutions/645-achprres645-lxxxv-2025) in November 2025 calling on African states not to enter into or maintain migration partnerships where there is a real risk of serious human rights violations.

African leaders must speak out against US unlawful third-country removals, which are discriminatory and contrary to human rights. They must also guarantee the protection of the rights of people forcibly removed in their countries as well as refugees, asylum seekers and migrants on their own soil. No financial contribution or potential pressure to sign these agreements should justify African states’ complicity with the US policy of “third-country removals”.**DM**

*This article was initially published in French in Libération.*

*Marceau Sivieude is Amnesty International’s regional director for West and Central Africa. Tigere Chagutah is Amnesty International’s regional director for East and Southern Africa.*