When Swazi police searched the home of democracy leader Mario Masuku on Monday (14 June 2010) they were looking for bombs, bomb-making equipment and firearms.
Masuku, president of the banned People’s United Democratic Movement (PUDEMO), said the police had a search warrant that stated this was the reason for their visit. They found none of these items but that did not stop them taking away documents, described by Masuku as ‘reading material on PUDEMO’.
This suggests the police might not really have been looking for bombs, but were on a ‘fishing expedition’ to see what they could find.
There has been a spate of attacks with bottles of petrol on the homes on MPs, police, and some public buildings. This has ratcheted up tension in the kingdom ruled by King Mswati III, sub-Saharan Africa’s last absolute monarch and his placeman Barnabas Dlamini, Swaziland’s illegally-appointed Prime Minister.
The attention of the international community has been focused on Swaziland since state forces began a clampdown on pro-democracy activists. One, Sipho Jele, died in custody awaiting trial.
No comments:
Post a Comment