Seven migrants deported from the United States arrived in Rwanda in mid-August, constituting the first group welcomed into the country under a recently concluded agreement with Washington, Kigali announced Thursday.

Since US President Donald Trump returned to the White House in January, his administration has negotiated several controversial agreements that have already allowed him to send foreigners to South Sudan, Eswatini, and El Salvador, countries from which they were often not originally from.

A first group of seven people arrived on Rwandan soil in mid-August, according to Kigali, which announced in early August that it had agreed to accept up to 250 people deported from the United States.

All deported migrants received "appropriate support and protection from the Rwandan government," Rwandan government spokeswoman Yolande Makolo said in a message to AFP.

"Three of them expressed the wish to return to their country of origin, while four wish to stay (in Rwanda) and build their lives there," she said, without specifying their nationalities.

Asked by AFP, a spokesperson for the International Organization for Migration (IOM) explained that it does not "support or facilitate deportations," but visits them to assess their basic needs.

Rwanda, a small country of about 13 million people, which has experienced strong economic growth since the 1994 genocide - at least 800,000 people died, according to the UN, mostly Tutsi but also moderate Hutu - is frequently criticized for its human rights record.

Rwanda had already signed a lucrative migration agreement with the United Kingdom, which was ultimately cancelled in 2024 by the new British government after generating intense controversy.

"These agreements on asylum seekers have represented a financial windfall for Rwanda," a human rights activist told AFP, speaking on condition of anonymity for fear of reprisals.

"Accepting these deportees also gives it an advantage in the ongoing peace negotiations regarding the conflict in the DRC (Democratic Republic of Congo)," he added.

Supported by Kigali, the M23 armed group has seized large swathes of eastern DRC in recent years, notably the major cities of Goma and Bukavu during a vast offensive launched at the end of 2024, accompanied by massive human rights violations.

Other countries, before Rwanda, have already received migrants expelled from the United States: eight of them were taken in by South Sudan in July, a country plagued by poverty and insecurity, only one of whom was from there.

The Ugandan government announced last week that it had also reached an agreement with Washington to accept people who might not be granted asylum in the United States.