The Swaziland Army has said
it strips people naked at border posts to search them and if they do not like
it they should stop crossing the border.
The admission came after an
international outcry that women routinely had their
private parts inspected by soldiers.
The Umbutfo Swaziland
Defence Force (USDF) – as the Swazi Army is officially know – issued a media
statement to clarify its position. It said complaints about their tactics were
‘unnecessary’.
‘If they cannot cope with
those security measures used there, they should avoid using those crossings,’
the USDF official spokesperson Lieutenant Nkosinathi Dlamini said.
The Sunday Observer newspaper in Swaziland reported (11 June 2017), ‘He
was emphatic that the USDF would not be stopped by such protests and they would
continue searching people as before.’
He said, ‘We search for
weapons, drugs and other contraband suspected to be hidden on their bodies or
inside their clothing, by requiring the person to remove some or all of his or
her clothing.’
The searches take place at
informal crossings along the border with South Africa.
He said the searches were ‘of
vital interest is national security and individual human rights cannot stand in
the way of national security’.
The outcry came after a
woman in Swaziland complained that soldiers at a border crossing made her remove
her underwear and inspect her private parts with a mirror. The Swazi Army said it happened all the time.
See also
SOLDIERS INSPECT WOMAN’S PRIVATE PARTS
SWAZI
SOLDIERS TORTURE OLD LADIES
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