Swazi Media Commentary: equatorial guinea

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Sunday, 22 April 2018

SWAZI KING WEARS SUIT OF DIAMONDS

(King Mswati in his diamond suit. Picture: Swazi Observer)

In the month that India donated US$1 million to help feed starving children in Swaziland, King Mswati III, the kingdom’s absolute monarch, wore a suit of diamonds weighing 6 kg and received a cake with 52 layers at his birthday party attended by 700 guests.

A few days earlier he received his second private jet that after VIP upgrading might have cost US$30 million.

Meanwhile, seven in ten of his 1.1 million subjects live in abject poverty with incomes less than US$2 per day and 640,000 of them in need of food.

The Observer on Saturday, a newspaper in Swaziland in effect owned by the King, reported (21 April 2018) the cake was ‘fit for a King’.

It reported, ‘The cake comprised of 52 layers and it was white and gold and part of the decoration on it was the silver number 50.’ It had been baked by a South African company.

The Observer also reported the King wore a blue suit that weighed 6 kg (13 lbs) and took eight months to make.

‘It was hand made and beaded with diamonds,’ it reported.

The King threw a garden party for 700 guests, including the President of Taiwan Tsai Ing-wen, and the Vice-President of Equatorial Guinea, Theodore Nguema Obiang Mangue, it added.

The King marked his birthday while more than one in three of his subjects were kept alive by international food aid. The World Food Program has reported 350,000 people are in need of emergency food assistance, with 640,000 potentially affected by some degree of food insecurity at the peak of the lean season.

It reported, ‘Chronic malnutrition is a main concern in Swaziland: stunting affects 26 percent of children under five years. Swaziland is vulnerable to drought in the south east. 77 percent of Swazis rely on subsistence farming for their livelihoods.’

In September 2017, it was found that some people in Swaziland were so hungry they willingly ate dog food, a newspaper in the kingdom reported. It came after residents looted a van full of dog food that overturned on the Manzini – Mbabane highway.

A report in July 2013 called The Cost of Hunger in Africa, which was prepared by the Government of Swaziland working together with World Food Program, found that around 270,000 adults in the kingdom, or more than 40 percent of its workers, suffered from stunted growth due to malnutrition. As a result, they were more likely to get sick, do poorly in school, be less productive at work and have shorter lives.

Poverty is so grinding in Swaziland that people, close to starvation, have been known to eat cow dung in order to fill their stomachs before they can take ARV drugs to treat their HIV status. In 2011, newspapers in Swaziland reported the case of a woman who was forced to take this drastic action.

Tuesday, 17 April 2018

‘NO COMMONWEALTH HEADS AT 50/50’

Taiwan, a country not recognised by the United Nations, and Equatorial Guinea, a nation with one of the worst human rights records in the world, are two countries to publicly announce they are sending representatives to King Mswati III’s 50^th birthday party.

Little has been heard from other countries in the run-up to the event. Meanwhile, it is unlikely that any heads of Commonwealth countries will attend the so-called 50/50 Celebration.

King Mswati, who rules Swaziland as sub-Saharan Africa’s last absolute monarch, turns 50 on Thursday (19 April 2018). This years also sees the 50^th anniversary of the kingdom’s Independence from Great Britain. Although that anniversary falls on 6 September, the King decreed both events should be celebrated on the day of his birthday.

Taiwan President Tsai Ing-wen flew into Swaziland on Tuesday and will hold private talks with the King while in the kingdom. Taiwan has been cultivating Swaziland for many years and is a major contributor of aid. Taiwan donated US$1.3 million toward the cost of the 50/50 Celebration. Taiwanese textile firms operate in Swaziland and have a poor record on workers’ rights.

The Swazi Observer, a newspaper in effect owned by the King, reported on Tuesday (17 April 2018) that President Tsai Ing-wen would bring a number of gifts, including five cattle for the King. Swaziland is one of only 20 countries in the world that has diplomatic ties with Taiwan. It supports Taiwan’s application to become a member of the United Nations.

The same newspaper reported that Equatorial Guinea Vice-President Teodoro Nguema Obiang Mangue was also due to attend.

Teodoro Nguema Obiang Mangue, known as an international playboy, was found guilty in France of corruption in 2017 and given a suspended jail sentenced of three years. The sentence came after a long investigation by French authorities into allegations that Obiang embezzled US$175 million from his country to buy luxury cars, real estate, and other assets in France. Those assets have been seized. The sentence included a suspended fine of 30 million euro (US$34.78 million).

In September 2011 Teodoro Nguema Obiang Mangue visited Swaziland. While he stayed at the five-star Royal Villas Resort he had his bag stolen – containing US$2.5 million in bank notes.

Equatorial Guinea is nominally a multiparty constitutional republic but since a military coup in 1979, President Teodoro Obiang Nguema Mbasogo (Teodoro Nguema Obiang Mangue’s father) has dominated all branches of government in collaboration with his clan and political party, the Democratic Party of Equatorial Guinea (PDGE), which he founded in 1991, according to a human rights report for 2016 published by the US State Department.

He received a claimed 93.7 percent of the vote in an election in 2016 that was considered neither free nor fair, the report stated.

The report added, ‘The most significant human rights problems in the country were disregard for rule of law, including police use of excessive force and torture, denial of freedom of speech, and widespread official corruption.’

Meanwhile, it is unlikely that a head of a Commonwealth country will attend. The Commonwealth Heads of State Summit takes place in London this week. A protest against Swaziland at that event organised by ACTSA (Action for Southern Africa) is planned for 19 April 2018.

In Swaziland, political parties are barred from taking part in elections and the King chooses the Prime Minister and government ministers. Opposition groups have been banned under the Suppression of Terrorism Act.

ACTSA said in a statement, ‘The Commonwealth has singularly failed to hold the Swazi authorities to account. The Commonwealth Secretariat does not appear to have a strategy for applying pressure on the King. The Commonwealth Ministerial Action Group must now review Swaziland’s status and the Commonwealth Secretary General must explicitly support this action. The Commonwealth’s credibility is on the line.’

Tuesday, 4 July 2017

SWAZI POLICE PRAISE AFRICAN DESPOT

Swaziland Police have applauded King Mswati III, the kingdom’s absolute monarch, for a deal he has done with Equatorial Guinea, a country with one of the worst human rights and corruption records in the world.

The Police also praised the Equatorial Guinea President Teodoro Obiang Nguema Mbasogo for a joint training arrangement of police recruits between the two countries.

Royal Swaziland Police, which has its own poor human rights record will train 30 cadets from the country. This is the renewal of a deal that dates back to 2012.

This is even though police in Equatorial Guinea use ‘excessive force and torture’, according to a United States report on human rights in the country.

The Swazi Observer, a newspaper in effect owned by King Mswati, reported (23 June 2017) Swaziland National Commissioner of Police Isaac Magagula saying, ‘We thank His Majesty King Mswati III and His Excellency President Nguema Mbasogo for their wisdom in facilitating the sharing of centres and best practice in police for the global growth and development, as no country can possibly be self-sufficient.’

The newspaper added, ‘He said the arrangement is characteristic of the wisdom and foresight of the two heads of state.’

Equatorial Guinea is nominally a multiparty constitutional republic but since a military coup in 1979, President Teodoro Obiang Nguema Mbasogo has dominated all branches of government in collaboration with his clan and political party, the Democratic Party of Equatorial Guinea (PDGE), which he founded in 1991, according to a human rights report for 2016 published by the US State Department.

He received a claimed 93.7 percent of the vote in an election in 2016 that was considered neither free nor fair, the report stated.

It added, ‘The most significant human rights problems in the country were disregard for rule of law, including police use of excessive force and torture, denial of freedom of speech, and widespread official corruption.’

Reviewing security force activities in 2016, the report said, ‘Police, gendarmes, and military personnel were ineffective and corrupt, and impunity was a problem. Security force members, who often were inebriated on the job, extorted money from citizens and foreigners at police checkpoints and during routine traffic stops. The government did not maintain effective internal or external mechanisms to investigate security force abuses.’

It added, ‘Police raids continued on immigrant communities, who make up 15 percent of the population. Reliable sources reported that police abused, extorted, or detained many legal as well as irregular immigrants during such raids. Police occasionally used excessive force to detain and deport immigrants.’

King Mswati has a long-standing relationship with Equatorial Guinea. In 2012 it was announced he had done a deal with the President of Equatorial Guinea to import crude oil into his kingdom. The oil would be refined into consumer products such as petrol, kerosene, asphalt and chemical reagents.

However, Swaziland had no oil refineries, and still does not.

The Times of Swaziland reported at the time Thembinkosi Mamba, Principal Secretary in the Ministry of Natural Resources and Energy, saying the Swazi Government had plans to build its own refinery so that, in future, the crude oil would be brought directly to Swaziland for refinement and separation, thereby, cutting down on costs.

The King entertained the President of Equatorial Guinea to try to impress upon him that his kingdom was a place worth investing in.

In September 2011 the president’s son Teodoro Nguema Obiang Mangue visited Swaziland. While he stayed at five-star Royal Villas Resort he had his bag stolen – containing US$2.5 million in bank notes.

Teodoro Nguema Obiang Mangue is now (June 2017) on trial in Paris, France, on charges of embezzlement of public funds and money laundering. CNN reported, (23 June 2017) ‘Prosecutors say he’s amassed a fortune, including an opulent mansion near the Champs-Elysees, along with Bugattis, Ferraris and an Aston Martin. He also allegedly spent millions of dollars on pricey European art and jewelry.

‘He also owns a yacht named Ice, which reportedly costs about US$800,000 a month to maintain, according to an article in the French newspaper Le Monde.

‘Obiang, 47, serves as his father’s vice president and earns about US$100,000 a year in that role, according to his lawyer, Emmanuel Marsigny.’

His lawyer told CNN, ‘He is accused of money laundering for investing or spending funds in France that would come from offenses committed in Equatorial Guinea.’

CNN also reported ‘In 2014, the United States agreed to a settlement following allegations that Obiang used money plundered from his country to amass assets such as a Malibu mansion, a private jet and Michael Jackson memorabilia.

‘Under the settlement, the Justice Department allowed Obiang to keep a Gulfstream jet and most of his Michael Jackson collection, including the white glove from Jackson’s “Bad” world tour. Those assets were not in the United States, the Justice Department said, but they could be subject to seizure if they ever come to the country.

‘At the time, Obiang disputed the US allegations and said the assets, including a US$30 million Malibu mansion, were purchased with proceeds from his businesses. He admitted no wrongdoing in the settlement.

‘As part of the settlement, Obiang had to sell the Malibu mansion, a Ferrari and pay US$20 million to a charity that benefits the people of Equatorial Guinea. Under the settlement, the US government kept about US$10 million.’

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