Leading Eswatini human rights lawyer Sibusiso Nhlabatsi likens the shadowy US expulsions of 15 men to his country, a tiny kingdom in southern Africa, to kidnappings.Since the first five deportees were flown from the United States on a military plane in July, authorities have blocked the lawyer from visiting them at the high-security prison where they are held.Another 10 arrived in October and had also reached out, via their relatives, for assistance, the lawyer told AFP in an interview.The expulsions are part of the Trump administration’s crackdown on migrants which has seen scores removed to countries in Africa and Central America. “Eswatini finds itself participating in what I can call human trafficking or kidnapping because you cannot have these third-party state deportees being housed (here) while denying them access to lawyers,” Nhlabatsi said.”They are far from their families, so their relatives cannot come here, yet they are being denied a basic right,” he said.Authorities have released few details about the deportees in Eswatini, who are from diverse countries including Vietnam, Laos and Cuba. One — a Jamaican — was repatriated in September.After being refused access by prison authorities, Nhlabatsi turned to the High Court which in early October agreed that local lawyers should be allowed to visit the detainees. But the government appealed the ruling and “that access has not yet been facilitated,” said Nhlabatsi, who is in his mid-40s.Lawyers have also asked the courts to oblige the government to make public the details of its deal with Washington. A text revealed by Human Rights Watch and some media, and seen by AFP, says Eswatini agreed to take 160 deportees in exchange for $5.1 million to “build its border and migration management capacity”.”I believe the country concentrated on financial gain and overlooked every aspect of international law,” Nhlabatsi said. – ‘Weaponisation’ -Poverty and unemployment are high among Eswatini’s 1.2 million population, with 58 percent of the youth without jobs, according to the International Monetary Fund.The autocratic ruler, King Mswati III, has held power for 39 years, openly flaunting his wealth with a lavish lifestyle.Political parties have been banned since 1973 and calling for democratic reforms risks terrorism or sedition charges.An example of the “weaponisation of the judiciary” in the deteriorating human rights environment was the jailing in 2021 of two opposition MPs accused of inciting unrest during pro-democracy protests, the lawyer said.One of them — Mthandeni Dube, sentenced to 18 years in prison — was freed on Tuesday after apologising to the king and agreeing not to make public speeches or join protests. “Even though one of them has since apologised, that does not change the fact that they should not have been convicted in the first place,” Nhlabatsi said.Since the 2021 protests, when at least 37 people were killed, “civic space has shrunk, the independence of the judiciary is questionable, and the rule of law remains under threat,” Nhlabatsi said.- Ticking time bomb -In 2023, human rights lawyer and fierce critic of the authorities Thulani Maseko was gunned down in a killing that shocked many beyond the borders of Eswatini. There have still been no arrests for the murder. “I began to truly fear for my safety after the assassination of Thulani Maseko because I had worked closely with him,” Nhlabatsi said.”What shocked and terrified me was that he was a man of peace. And I know for a fact that the state also knew that he never advocated violence in any form,” said the formal but friendly lawyer.  Eswatini needs change, including a move away from its system of royal favouritism and patronage that is eating into government finances, he said. “It is not sustainable,” Nhlabatsi said, describing the desperation for jobs in particular as a “cry for help, a ticking time bomb.”

US forces on Thursday struck another alleged drug trafficking boat in the Caribbean, killing three people, Pentagon chief Pete Hegseth said, bringing the death toll from Washington’s controversial anti-narcotics campaign to at least 70.The United States began carrying out such strikes — which experts say amount to extrajudicial killings even if they target known traffickers — in early September, taking aim at vessels in the Caribbean and eastern Pacific.The US strikes have destroyed at least 18 vessels so far — 17 boats and a semi-submersible — but Washington has yet to make public any concrete evidence that its targets were smuggling narcotics or posed a threat to the United States.Hegseth released aerial footage on X of the latest strike, which he said took place in international waters like the previous strikes and targeted “a vessel operated by a Designated Terrorist Organization.”The video showed a boat traveling through the water before exploding into flames.”Three male narco-terrorists — who were aboard the vessel — were killed,” Hegseth said, without any further identifying information.”To all narco-terrorists who threaten our homeland: if you want to stay alive, stop trafficking drugs. If you keep trafficking deadly drugs — we will kill you,” he wrote.Like some previous videos released by the US government, a section of the boat is obfuscated for unspecified reasons.President Donald Trump’s administration has built up significant forces in Latin America, in what it says is its campaign to stamp out drug trafficking.So far it has deployed six Navy ships in the Caribbean, sent F-35 stealth warplanes to Puerto Rico, and ordered the USS Gerald R Ford carrier strike group to the region.The governments and families of those killed in the US strikes have said many of the dead were civilians — primarily fishermen. Venezuela’s President Nicolas Maduro has repeatedly accused Trump of seeking to oust him.US bombers have also conducted shows of force near Venezuela, flying over the Caribbean Sea off the country’s coast on at least four occasions since mid-October.Maduro — who has been indicted on drug charges in the United States — insists there is no drug cultivation in his country, which he says is used as a trafficking route for Colombian cocaine against its will.The Trump administration has said in a notice to Congress that the United States is engaged in “armed conflict” with Latin American drug cartels, describing them as terrorist groups as part of its justification for the strikes.The United Nations has asked the United States to cease its campaign, with rights chief Volker Turk saying the killings have taken place “in circumstances that find no justification in international law.”