SWAZIS JUMP AT TERRORIST SHADOWS

Be afraid, be very afraid. The Swazi press is whipping up rumours that al Qaeda terrorists are hiding in Swaziland.

It’s not the first time we’ve been fed this nonsense.

This time we are told that 10 ‘Asians’ are living ‘undercover’ in various parts of the kingdom.

According to the Swazi News, an independent newspaper in Swaziland, ‘This should undoubtedly trigger a cause for concern to the nation as the New Year unfolds, as such signs could signal an imminent attack that could most likely to first strike at our security lacking airport.’

The newspaper gives no evidence of who these ‘Asians’ are and why they should want to attack Matsapha Airport beyond saying, ‘that the terrorists may have chose Swaziland for its quietness and enabling environment to work on their targets without hindrance’.

The news media are playing into the hands of the Swaziland political elite that has clamped down on dissent in the kingdom since Barnabas Dlamini was illegally appointed Prime Minister in 2008.

Now, the police will use the ‘terrorist threat’ to further clamp down on legitimate protest in Swaziland.

The Swaziland Police spokesman Vusi Masuku let the cat out of the bag. He told the Swazi News, ‘These allegations are to receive the serious investigation they deserve and cannot be taken lightly. Terrorism is a global enemy, threat to innocent human life and economy.

‘We shall cast our net to the length and breath of this country with the aim of exploring all avenues of our investigation in order to probe and verify the existence of such allegations.

‘We appeal to people with information on the matter to volunteer such to the police through their channels of convenience’.

We’ve been here before. In February 2009, the Swazi Observer, the newspaper in effect owned by King Mswati III, sub-Saharan Africa’s last absolute monarch, reported that al Qaeda terrorists may be in Swaziland disguised as secondhand car salesmen. The newspaper reported that ‘sleeper cells’ may already be in place ‘and ready to act’.

Although we might be tempted to laugh off the newspapers’ claims, there is something more sinister going on here. Since October 2008 with the illegal appointment of Barnabas Dlamini as Prime Minister, there has been a clampdown on free speech in Swaziland (there was never much to begin with) and a Suppression of Terrorism Act has been implemented to ban organisations critical of the government and the non-democratic structures in Swaziland.

The actions of the Swazi Government have caused outrage both inside Swaziland and in the international community for being heavy handed and anti-democratic. In response the government has said it needs to do these things in order to save Swazis from terrorism.

As I reported in February 2009, the Swazi people are not alone in being duped about the dangers of al Qaeda. A convenient mythology about the group has grown since the World Trade Center bombings in 2001 as a fear of a phantom enemy has been allowed to grow by politicians desperate to maintain their power.

A documentary on al Qaeda shown by the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) in 2004 concluded that al Qaeda ‘is not an organised international network. It does not have members or a leader. It does not have “sleeper cells”. It does not have an overall strategy. In fact, it barely exists at all, except as an idea about cleansing a corrupt world through religious violence.’