A team of U.S. Marines was deployed to protect the U.S. Embassy in Eswatini, a small country in southern Africa that remains in turmoil after civil unrest began June 30, the U.S. Marines said Wednesday.

Thirteen Marines were deployed from Virginia amid pro-Democracy protests in Eswatini.

Their deployment was part of the Marine Security Augmentation Unit, which was created in the wake of the attack on the U.S. Embassy in Benghazi in 2012.

The unit held past missions in the Middle East, Thailand and France. Its deployment to Eswatini is its 106th mission.

Eswatini was a monarchy formerly known as Swaziland, but unrest erupted after a law student was murdered in May. Pro-democracy protests grew in late June with protestors calling for a prime minister election.

Officials said at least 27 people have been killed as government security forces cracked down on the protests. The United Nations also reported blackouts in the country, which may have been caused by the government to suppress information.

"Dozens of people have been killed for daring to demand that their government respects human rights, many of them human rights defenders and activists," Amnesty International Director for East and South Africa Deprose Muchena said in a press release on July 2. "Authorities must carry out a prompt, thorough, impartial, independent and transparent investigation into reports of the use of excessive force, and bring to justice anyone suspected to be responsible in fair trials."

Hundreds of protestors have been detained and are facing criminal charges as a prison capacity crisis looms amidst the pandemic.

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