This post contains two short articles by Peter Kenworthy from African Contact. One is on the charging of two Swazi youth leaders for allegedly possessing explosives that Swazi police claim were to be used for acts of terrorism during the recent mass demonstrations for democracy, rule of law and socio-economic justice in Swaziland. The other article is about the general environment of insecurity for pro-democracy activists protesting against the government.

An editor who openly challenged the Prime Minister on government's tendencies to censor the state radio station, the Swaziland Broadcasting and Information Services (SBIS), was covertly told to resign if he was not happy with the government policy. Welile Dlamini, a long-time news editor of SBIS, had challenged the Prime Minister, Sibusiso Dlamini on why the station was told by government what and what not to broadcast. This was during a monthly breakfast meeting between editors and the PM, which is also attended by cabinet ministers.

The African National Congress (ANC) on Thursday (14 April) broke its silence over the violent suppression of protests in Swaziland, calling for moves towards democratisation. 'We call on the government of Swaziland to work towards the normalisation of the political environment by unbanning opposition political parties, releasing political activists and engaging in a meaningful dialogue with opposition political and trade union leaders to find a collective solution to the socio-economic situation faced by that country,' Ebrahim Ebrahim, the deputy international relations minister, said in a statement.

IMF Managing Director Dominique Strauss-Kahn has approved a staff-monitored program for Swaziland to help the southern African country enact tax reforms and at the same time protect social spending. The program entails IMF staff scrutiny of the authorities’ policies, but does not include formal backing of the program or any financial support. Swaziland is facing a serious fiscal crisis, with an overall budget deficit estimated around 13 per cent of GDP for the 2010/11 fiscal year ending on 31 March 2011. The crisis came from structural imbalances in both government expenditures and revenues.

Africa Contact's Peter Kenworthy tracked the 'April 12 Swazi Uprising', providing a series of updates as events unfolded. While the government has branded the protests a 'failure', Kenworthy notes that now 'all ordinary Swazis … have seen the true face of the regime, if they hadn’t seen it already'.

Authorities in the kingdom of Swaziland should allow the news media to report freely on anti-government protests, the Committee to Protect Journalists said after security forces harassed at least 10 local and international journalists covering a mass demonstration demanding political and economic reform after more than two decades of rule by King Mswati III. Police stopped reporter Niren Tolsi and photographer Lisa Skinner of the South African daily Mail & Guardian, confiscated their notebooks and Swazi contact books, and threatened to deport them if the journalists reported anything negative about the country or the king, Africa's last absolute monarch, Nic Dawes, the paper's editor-in-chief, told CPJ.

Hundreds of Swazis have been arrested after they took to the streets on 12 and 13 April, to demonstrate against the monarchy. Swaziland’s King Mswati has presided over a ‘system of governance’ that protest organisers say has left the country’s ‘people divided, poor and powerless’. Sokari Ekine reports on southern Africa’s first uprising and provides updates on the situation in Djibouti, Algeria, Morocco, Egypt, Côte d'Ivoire and Libya.

As the protest campaign grows in Swaziland, and alarming reports grow of a security clampdown, African democracy institute Idasa has called on Swaziland to avoid further bloodshed and a repeat of the crises in conflict-ridden Libya and Ivory Coast – urging parties in the mounting conflict in that country to aim towards building an environment that is conducive to dialogue and negotiations. Idasa says it recognises citizens’ right to protest and make their voices heard, and sees the demonstrations as a clear indication of the determination, commitment and willingness of the people of Swaziland to pursue democratic reform.

Speaker in the House of Assembly Prince Guduza says Swaziland and Lesotho signed the interim Economic Partnership Agreement with the European Union under duress. He said both countries signed the agreement because they had certain export quotas to the EU. He noted that the EPA sowed a seed of confusion in the Southern Africa Development Community.

On the day of the planned mass protest in the totalitarian kingdom of Swaziland, 12 April, the powerful trade union COSATU in neighbouring South Africa plans a protest march to 'invade' the kingdom in solidarity. Swazi youths fed up with the autocratic government have announced a day of national protests on 12 April through social media, in particular Facebook, following the North African model.

The government of Swaziland has, and continues to threaten with prosecution, people who are expressing themselves using popular social media such as Facebook. The government has accused the Facebookers as being too critical to the government and the ruling elites in Swaziland. On 25 March 2011, the prime minister assured senators in Parliament that his government would track down, arrest and prosecute one Gangadza Masilela whose Facebook wall has been critical of the status quo in Swaziland and the leadership in the country. Masilela, who is believed to be using a pseudonym, has a large following on his facebook wall.

Swaziland's government, feeling the pinch of a growing financial crisis, has suspended this quarter’s pensions for the elderly and redirected the money to pay the school fees of orphans and vulnerable children (OVC). '[Government] will utilise the funds allocated for the elderly grants, since they have R46 million (US$6.5 million) in that account currently, with a view that it shall be reimbursed timeously,' said a finance ministry report to parliament explaining how the R38 million ($5.4 million) bill for OVC school fees would be met.

The Congress of South African Trade Unions (Cosatu) on Saturday (19 MArch) vowed to intensify its role in labour protests in Swaziland calling for an end to the reign of King Mswati III. Cosatu also commended the Swazi people who held protest marches on Friday. Public service workers marched through the streets of the capital, Mbabane, protesting plans by the country's government to cut salaries and jobs in an attempt to get its finances in order.

Recently WikiLeaks revealed that Swaziland had tried to acquire arms from the UK. It was reported by The Guardian - and later local newspapers - that Britain had blocked a $60 million sale of helicopters, armoured cars and machine guns to Swaziland, fearing the weapons could end up in Iran, at least according to US diplomatic cables.

The government of Swaziland has banned the daily live transmission of BBC Focus on Africa programme after one of the news clips, broadcast through the English channel of the state radio, Swaziland Broadcasting and Information Services (SBIS), was critical of government. The programme broadcast daily in the mornings, mid-day and evenings has been off air for the past week. The state radio has been running apologies to listeners of the programme for its absence, stating that it was due to technical problems.

Peter Kenworthy highlights the work of a Swaziland organisation that campaigns for the rights of ex-miners.

Most Swazis go to traditional healers if they feel ill, but in a country with the world’s highest HIV prevalence rate healers are struggling to cope. Thabile Xaba, 37, a healer who has been diagnosed HIV-positive at a clinic, told IRIN about her experiences. 'I was almost done with high school when our traditional healer told me the ancestral spirits wanted me to become a healer. He did this by reading the "bones", which is what I can now do too. A person who is chosen must agree or there will be misfortune, like an illness will strike you. You must accept your fate. It is like being chosen as one of the king’s wives. You accept it.'

Apart from the looming job losses in Swaziland’s public sector, small and medium enterprises (SMEs) have also warned of retrenchments following the government’s decision to suspend procurement from small businesses. The government of the southern African autocratic monarchy has been forced to cut expenditure after its receipts from the Southern African Customs Union (SACU) shrunk with 60 per cent.

Richard Rooney’s online Swazi Media Commentary is a rare example of objective, progressive news and journalism in a country burdened with biased reporting and censorship, writes Peter Kenworthy.

Orphans and vulnerable children (OVC) comprise a fifth of Swaziland's roughly one million people, 80,000 more than predicted in a doomsday scenario back in 2004, but a social meltdown feared by some, has not happened. In 2004 the UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF) projected a grim future for the landlocked country as a consequence of the world's highest HIV prevalence rates - 26.1 per cent of people aged 15-49 are living with the virus - but although the nation is struggling, it is managing to cope.