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Africa Subsaharan
Swazi police arrest 9 after bomb attacks
2005-12-20
MBABANE, Swaziland (Reuters) -- Swazi police have arrested nine members of a banned opposition party over a series of firebomb attacks that have stoked tension in the impoverished African kingdom, the party leader said Tuesday. Peoples United Democratic Movement leader Mario Masuku said the nine suspects were members of either his party or its youth wing, which like other opposition parties is banned by King Mswati's government. Most of the suspects face charges of attempted murder in connection with a spate of attacks on police, government officials and courthouses over the past five years, which have intensified in recent months. Most of them have been refused bail, Masuku said.

Masuku denied the Peoples United Democratic Movement was behind the attacks but stopped short of condemning the use of violence against the government and said the opposition was stepping up its campaign against sub-Saharan Africa's last absolute monarchy. "We will continue our struggle for the liberation of the people of Swaziland, whether these people are found guilty or not," Masuku told Reuters in Johannesburg, South Africa, by phone from Swaziland.

Police were not immediately available to comment on the arrests, which were reported in Swazi newspapers Tuesday, but government officials have described the blasts as terrorism and blamed them on the Peoples United Democratic Movement. Swaziland has experienced rising political tension as critics accuse Mswati of ignoring calls for greater democracy and failing to cope with rampant poverty and food shortages.

The 37-year-old king also has been criticized for splashing out on palaces and expensive cars and for recently choosing a 13th young bride, in a country 40 percent of whose people are believed to be infected with the AIDS virus.
We always devote extensive coverage to the king's yearly bride pick.
"Our people are angry, they are unhappy about what is happening," said Masuku, who added that his party wanted a nonviolent dialogue with the government. The party is among the fiercest critics of Mswati and a new constitution -- replacing the one Mswati's father tore up in 1973 -- which opponents say benefits the king and his court at the expense of Swaziland's poor majority.

Violent attacks are relatively rare in Swaziland, a tiny enclave of 1 million citizens sandwiched between South Africa and Mozambique, and Mswati remains widely popular as the symbolic center of the Swazi nation.
Posted by:Steve

#1  40 percent of whose people are believed to be infected with the AIDS virus.

Not to worry King Masuka ole chap. While you boink away with numbers 1 through 13, your subjects are making themselves quite extinct. The entire region will soon become a giant game reserve.
Posted by: Besoeker   2005-12-20 15:51  

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