Democratic Senator Jeanne Shaheen has criticized the “highly unusual” payment to Equatorial Guinea
Washington has transferred $7.5 million to the government of Equatorial Guinea under a deal to accept non-citizens deported from the US, according to US Democrat Senator Jeanne Shaheen.
In a letter to Secretary of State Marco Rubio on Monday, the ranking member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee noted the “highly unusual” payment to “one of the most corrupt governments in the world.”
The Central African country’s history of corruption and alleged complicity in human trafficking “raises serious concerns over the responsible, transparent use of American taxpayer dollars,” she said.
The payment, which came from the US State Department’s Migration and Refugee Assistance emergency fund, marks the “first ever government-to-government transfer” from the fund intended for global refugee and humanitarian crises.
The administration of US President Donald Trump has pursued controversial arrangements with several African states to host migrants Washington deems ineligible to remain in the US.
Washington reached an agreement with Rwanda in June for the East African country to take up to 250 deportees whose home states refused to receive them. Eswatini, South Sudan, Uganda and Ghana have each received deportees, most of whom the Department of Homeland Security has described as “barbaric criminals.” The financial terms with those governments remain unclear. Nigeria, which has refused to accept migrants, claims that Washington is using visa restrictions and tariff hikes to pressure African countries to comply.
In September, Deputy Secretary of State Christopher Landau met with Equatorial Guinea’s vice president, Teodoro Nguema Obiang Mangue, in Washington, where they agreed to “take concrete steps to expand the bilateral relationship.” The officials discussed strengthening ties, with a focus on combating illegal immigration, according to a statement from the Department of State.
The African Union’s human rights body has warned countries to halt agreements that risk turning the continent into a “dumping zone” for arbitrary expulsions. UN human rights experts have also said the Trump administration risks violating principles of migrant protection.
