Comment from The Times, London, UK
September 6, 2008
King Tut Tut
Is it right for Britain's envoy to join celebrations for Swaziland's autocratic ruler?
Everyone loves an indiscreet diplomat over the sober type who thinks twice before saying nothing. But in the matter of attending this weekend's birthday celebrations for the King of Swaziland, would it not have been nobler if Britain's envoy had decided to think twice before doing nothing?
Paul Boateng - former British Cabinet minister, now High Commissioner in neighbouring South Africa - will join the toasts for King Mswati III as he turns 40 today, a birthday that coincides with the 40th anniversary of Swaziland's independence from Britain.
But beyond those twin diary dates, there is little to celebrate for the 41 per cent of Swazis who are HIV positive (the highest rate in the world), or the 40 per cent who are unemployed, or the 70 per cent who live on less than 23 pence a day.
Tens of thousands of bare-breasted virgins launched this week's festivities with a traditional dance. And as they twirled, sub-Saharan Africa's last absolute monarch strolled among them, in a leopardskin loincloth, in search of his 14th bride.
If the Sherborne-educated king has not yet finalised his choice, he will have a further chance today, when more bare-breasted virgins will be on parade to entertain him for his birthday.
The girl he picks will live in one of the many palaces that the king (listed by Forbes magazine as the world's 15th-richest monarch) has built for them. She will use his helicopters and his cars. She will join his other wives on shopping trips, like their recent £2.2 million (about E33 million) spree to Dubai.
Yet Swazis don't want to overthrow King Mswati, they just want him to introduce democratic reforms and provide money for Aids drugs. That would be a toast Britain's envoy could drink to.
Link http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/comment/leading_article/article4686955.ece
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