Pro-democracy protests in eSwatini

The Kingdom of eSwatini made international headlines this week as calls for democratic reforms in the country intensified through protests. 

ESwatini is an absolute monarchy governed by the Tinkhundla systems. 


Pro-democracy civilians had taken to the streets to demand reform of the current governance system.

A curfew from 18h00 until 05h00 was imposed as the civil unrest grew, with reports of loss of life and burning of property.

During this time, reports of King Mswati III having fled the country emerged via social media platforms, which the government of eSwatini disputed indicating as ‘false media reports’. 

South African multinational telecommunications company operating in the country, MTN, had during this time also reported interruption of internet services, which emaSwati and civil society, including Amnesty International, viewed as a direct violation of human rights and aimed at curbing the spread of information pertaining developments in the country.

International relations ministry in South Africa, the Department of International Relations and Cooperation (DIRCO), and regional peace and security organization, the Southern African Development Community (SADC), have called on the security forces to exercise restraint in their response to restore order and normalcy, and for the nation to have a dialogue.

The eSwatini government has invited the SADC Organ on Politics, Defence & Security on a fact-finding mission. The mission is expected to arrive in the country on 4 July 2021.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

When bilateral relations triumph over regional

Image
The Southern African Development Community (SADC) countries might have been disappointed at Rwanda’s precedence over the deployment of its forces to the troubled Mozambique, ahead of defense deployment from their countries, but the Rwandan and Mozambican governments have had good bilateral relations strengthened at the signing of several agreements in 2018.  Mozambique, geographically located in the southern part of the African continent, is a regional member of the SADC, while Rwanda belongs to the East African Community (EAC). The Rwandan government had almost a week ahead of SADC’s finalization of its troops deployment to Mozambique, announced that it was in the process of deploying a 1000 person contingent of the Rwanda Defence Force (RDF) and the Rwanda National Police (RNP) to Mozambique’s province of Cabo Delgado, which had been terrorized by insurgents, at the request of the Mozambique government.  Rwanda had in its statement not shied away that its deploym...
Read more

SA's position on HIV/AIDS

Image
HIV/AIDS continues to be one of the concerning global epidemics world leaders are still grappling with. The United Nations (UN) had last week (8-11 June 2021) held a High Level Meeting on HIV/AIDS. South Africa, represented by Deputy President (DP) David Mabuza, in his capacity as the DP and Chairperson of the multi-sectoral body, the South African National AIDS Council (SANAC), had reiterated to the world the country's support for the 2021 Political Declaration towards ending AIDS.   South Africa affirmed that the protection of human rights of people living with HIV and other key and vulnerable populations, is paramount to enabling access to services and fighting stigma and discrimination. "In order for the world to succeed in ending AIDS by 2030, we need to recognise and protect the rights of all key and vulnerable populations by involving people living with HIV and placing communities at the centre of our response," said Mabuza. South Africa further advance...
Read more