The People's United Democratic Movement (PUDEMO) of Swaziland has condemned the decision to spend $45m on a luxury jet for the mountain kingdom's monarch. "We are outraged by the government's decision to secretly and lavishly spend taxpayers' money and aid funds in this manner whilst tens of thousands of Swazis are severely affected by the current drought," the organisation said in a statement.

As the food crisis gets worse in most parts of Swaziland, many people, particularly women, have resorted to prostitution and crime as the only means of survival in the face of the ravaging famine hitting Swaziland. A majority of families along the Lavumisa-Manzini highway are now giving away their female children, some as young as 12 years, to truck drivers who pay at least R50 for a round of sexual intercourse.

Swaziland's High Court has acquitted the leader of a banned opposition political party on charges of sedition. Mario Masuku, leader of the Peoples United Democratic Party (Pudemo), was arrested almost two years ago after allegedly calling for the overthrow of King Mswati III at public gatherings in Mbabane and Manzini.

A wave of baby murders are commanding front-page news in the small conservative kingdom of Swaziland. But while editorial writers are denouncing "mother murderers", women's rights groups argue the rising number of abandoned babies are a symptom of gender inequality in this traditional society.

Children as young as ten years now collect the meagre rations of maize, beans and cooking oil handed out by aid agencies in Swaziland. The youngsters have become the heads of their families since their parents have either died of HIV/Aids, or are extremely ill with the virus.

Swaziland, where 34 percent of adults are HIV-positive, now has the second-highest HIV infection rate in the world after Botswana.

The government said last Friday it was buying a US$250 million luxury jet for Swaziland's king, even though massive food shortages threaten an estimated 230 000 people with starvation.

Repression in Swaziland is being ignored by the international community because of a misguided perception that its people live in traditional peace and harmony, an opposition activist says. "We have not resorted to violence and it would be our choice not to do so," Ignatius Dlamini, the secretary general of the banned Peoples United Democratic Movement (Pudemo), told a seminar at the Institute for Security Studies in Pretoria.

The African folklore tradition is being revived in Swaziland to communicate difficult contemporary problems like AIDS and child abuse. "These stories are not Swaziland-specific, and we believe they would be welcome and useful in other African nations," UN children's agency UNICEF representative, Alan Brody, told IRIN.

King Mswati's efforts to use the constitution to permanently enshrine absolute monarchial power and ban political opposition is being challenged by Western envoys stationed in the kingdom. "The aspirations and basic rights of all Swazi citizens must be guaranteed," warned United States Ambassador to Swaziland, James McGee, in his formal address at an observation marking America's Independence Day last week.

Swazi labour leaders this week aim to draw world attention to their demands for political reform in Africa's last absolute monarchy at the International Confederation of Free Trade Unions meeting in Durban, South Africa.

By African standards, Swaziland (with just over a million people) is a tiny
country. However, with 20,000 internet subscribers it has reached a market size that is larger than some of its bigger brothers. Terence Sibiya looks at how the market operates and its future potential.

Swaziland’s authorities have been accused of stepping up their repression of women following a decree that women may not wear trousers because it against social traditions. Reports from the capital Mbabane say soldiers will enforce the law by ripping trousers off women who dare to flout the custom.

Lawyers in Swaziland have lodged a complaint with the Organisation of African Unity (OAU) against the human rights record of King Mswati's regime. "The government should prepare itself to go and explain... why there is blatant disregard for the basic and fundamental rights of citizens," a representative for the lawyers said.

Swaziland's absolute monarch King Mswati III has introduced legislation gazetted on Wednesday that imposes stringent measures to suppress dissent and harsh penalties against those advocating political reform. The Internal Security Bill, 2002, is due to be debated by the country's parliament and sure to be passed as there are no political parties or opposition to the king in the legislature.

We are greatly concerned about the lack of attention concerning Mario Masuku, a prisoner of conscience in Swaziland and the President of PUDEMO (People's United Democratic Movement) of Swaziland. He was arrested in 2001, but due to the corrupt and crisis-torn justice system of the Swazi regime, he still has not been given a hearing. There is also a deliberate plan by the regime to allow him to die peacefully. Mr Masuku is suffering from diabetes, which is now worsening. We call upon the international community to immediately send a fact-finding mission to Swaziland, to assess the situation of Masuku, including his sleeping conditions, solitary confinement and terrible conditions in jail. His family is subjected to the most difficult conditions of political persecution, economic hardships and social frustrations. We are concerned that there is no adequate attention being paid to Swaziland compared to Zimbabwe. We are exteremely concerned about the refusal of the Commonwealth to act for the suspension of Swaziland,like it did Zimbabwe.
Bongani Masuku
Secretary General
Swaziland Solidarity Network
tel: 011 339 3621/33 (South Africa)

Corruption is rife at the deputy prime minister's office as government officials and senior officers are said to be enriching themselves from the King's [Mswati] 40m emalangeni Regional Development Fund.

By tradition, Swazis of all generations and genders show their devotion to their monarchs and fealty to their chiefs by providing labour for chores both practical and symbolic. Recently, the custom has drawn fire from pro-democracy groups, who claim the practice of tribute labour violates human rights.

Opposed by meek pro-democracy forces, King Mswati's government is likely to succeed in promulgating a new constitution to preserve palace power, Swazi political analysts told IRIN. "Mswati seems like small potatoes compared to Robert Mugabe and other national leader cutthroats," said a Manzini businessman. "No one has ever died in political violence here, and there aren't even any demonstrations anymore. Why should the world bother with little Swaziland?"

What can a small impoverished nation do to
preserve its environment when faced with a destructive population growth
rate and an imperative to lure industrial investment to create jobs? While Swaziland, a landlocked kingdom of less than one million people,
struggles with these questions, conservationists are heartened by the first
major victory of an environmental monitoring body whose success is by no
means assured.