The Danish Government has called on Swaziland to investigate why three of its citizens were detained, harassed and beaten up and threatened with death by police and security forces during the Global Day of Action protest in September 2010.
The Danish citizens were members of an Africa Contact delegation. They were eventually deported from the kingdom, ruled by King Mswati III, sub-Saharan Africa’s last absolute monarch.
Once they were safely home, Africa Contact made several complaints against the Swazi police and security services. Lutfo Dlamini, Swaziland’s Minister of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation denied point blank that anything had happened to them.
Now, in a letter to Africa Contact, the Danish Minister for Development Cooperation, Søren Pind, says, he takes the issue of mistreatment of Africa Contact’s members seriously.
‘Denmark has officially raised the matter with Swaziland through the embassy in Pretoria, emphasizing that we are seriously worried about these events. At the same time, we have stressed that we obviously expect the authorities to investigate this matter thoroughly, and that the necessary conclusions must be drawn from these investigations.’
Peter Kenworthy’s stiffkitten blog reports Pind saying, ‘We are worried about the human rights situation in Swaziland’.
The minister was replying to a letter sent to him by Africa Contact.
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