Swaziland has received an E1 million (US$ 100,000) gift
from Kazakhstan, a country with one of the worst human rights records in the
world.
As in Swaziland, the Kazakhstan government sets security
forces to attack its own citizens.
In December 2011 government troops opened fire and killed
12 people and wounded dozens more during a protest supporting striking oil
workers who had gathered in Zhanaozen’s central square.
Human
Rights Watch reported no officers were held accountable for the killings. It
also reported that in December 2011, police detained hundreds of people in
Zhanaozen, several of whom stated that police kicked and beat detainees with
truncheons, stripped them naked, walked on them, and subjected them to freezing
temperatures.
Human Rights Watch reported, ‘In March, defendants at one
of the trials following the Zhanaozen events testified that guards and
investigators subjected them to physical and psychological abuse, including
beatings, suffocation, and threats of rape or harm to family members. The
prosecutor’s office declined to open a criminal investigation.’
Like Swaziland, Kazakhstan, a country in Asia formed after
the Soviet Union broke up, has recently held elections. And, also like
Swaziland international observers declared they were not free and fair.
Swaziland has received its E1 million grant as a thank
you for supporting the Kazakhstan Government in bidding and eventually
winning the right to host the expo 2017 world fair.
Swaziland, which is ruled by King Mswati III, sub-Saharan
Africa’s last absolute monarch, has a long history of dealing with countries
that abuse human rights.
At present it has a deal with Equatorial Guinea to train
its police officers.
The US State Department, in a report on
Equatorial Guinea published in May 2012, revealed, corruption and impunity
continued to be big human rights problems in Equatorial Guinea.
‘Security forces extorted money from citizens and
immigrants at police checkpoints. There was no internal investigation unit
within the police, and mechanisms to investigate allegations of abuse were
poorly developed.’
It added, ‘security forces sometimes committed abuses
with impunity. The government did not maintain effective internal or external
mechanisms to investigate security force abuses.’
Lawyers in the country report arbitrary arrests. ‘Lawyers
did not have access to police stations and could not contact detainees while
they were held there; police superintendents when interviewed stated they did
not see the need for or advisability of such access.
Swaziland is also busy developing
ties with Iran. In May 2013, it was announced that ties between the two
nations would be expanded. Ministers from the Swazi Government regularly visit
the dictators in Iran.
Swaziland has a murky relationship with the dictators in
Iran. In February 2011, the Guardian newspaper
in the UK reported
that Britain
had blocked a $60m sale of helicopters, armoured cars and machine guns to Swaziland, fearing the weapons
could end up in Iran. The report was based on
cables between US diplomats that had
been published by Wikileaks.
See also
SWAZI COPS TRAIN HUMAN RIGHTS ABUSERS
SWAZILAND TRADES WITH IRAN DICTATORS
SWAZI ‘SECRET ARMS DEAL FOR IRAN’
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