Swaziland is to spend US$150 million on security in
the coming year, the kingdom’s annual budget reveals.
It amounts to 11 percent of the tiny kingdom’s total
budget.
The money will be spent on the army (USDF), police and
correctional services. It continues a trend of massive military spending by King
Mswati III, sub-Saharan Africa’s last absolute monarch.
The security budget of E2.3bn is more than the E2.0bn
set aside for health. The total budget is E20.6bn.
In his budget speech
Finance Minister Martin Dlamini, said, ‘Government has, over the past years,
actively enhanced the capacity of the USDF and the Police in order to safeguard
peace and security of Swazis and their property.’
He added, ‘Government will therefore ensure that the
USDF and Police continue to have what they need to ensure Swazis are secure.’
He said, ‘These resources will be utilized to further
strengthen the USDF, Correctional Services and the Police. Specific emphasis
will be placed on strengthening intelligence capability, training and welfare.’
Swaziland is a tiny landlocked kingdom with a
population of about 1.4 million people. Seven in ten live in abject poverty,
with incomes of less than US$2 per day.
Political parties are banned from taking part in
elections and groups advocating multi-party democracy are banned under the
Suppression of Terrorism Act.
The military spending amounted to
2.2 percent of Swaziland’s entire gross domestic product (GDP).
In the calendar year 2014,
Swaziland’s military spending was estimated to be US$80.6 million; about the
equivalent of US$62 for every person in the kingdom.
This followed a series of
prodemocracy uprisings in North Africa, leading to what became known as the
‘Arab Spring’. King Mswati was fearful something similar could happen in his
kingdom. A Facebook group calling itself
the April 12 Uprising had already called for an overthrow of the King.
In February 2011, Sithole told an
open stakeholder dialogue on the 2011-2012 budget and Fiscal Adjustment
Roadmap, ‘Yes, we are spending a lot on the army but we are not anticipating
what is happening in North Africa to come here,’ he said.
He added, ‘However, the army is
there to avoid such situations.’
In 2009, the Swazi Government was
revealed to be engaged in arms
dealing by the United
States. A diplomatic cable written by Maurice Parker, the then US Ambassador to
Swaziland, and later published by WikiLeaks revealed that the UK Government had
blocked an arms deal between a UK company Unionlet and the Swaziland Government
because it feared their ‘possible use for internal repression’.
The Swazi Government wanted to
buy equipment worth US$60 million.
Among items listed for purchase
were, ‘3 Bell Model UH-1H helicopters, FN Herstal 7.6251mm Minimi light machine
guns, blank and tracer ammunition, armored personnel carriers, command and
control vehicles including one fitted with a 12.7x99mm M2 Browning heavy
machine gun and others fitted with the FN Herstal light machine guns, military
ambulances, armored repair and recovery vehicles, weapon sights, military image
intensifier equipment, optical target surveillance equipment, 620 Heckler &
Koch G36E assault rifles, 240 Heckler & Koch G36K assault rifles, 65
Heckler & Koch G36E rifles, 75 Heckler & Koch UMP submachine guns
9x19mm, and 35 Heckler & Koch USP semi-automatic pistols’.
The Swaziland Government said it
wanted the items to fulfil its United Nations ‘peacekeeping’ obligations in
Africa.
The UK Government did not believe
it and thought either the weapons would be used against the Swazi civilian
population, or they were being bought in order to sell on to another country,
possibly Iran. The UK Government blocked the deal.
In his diplomatic cable, Parker
said, ‘The array of weapons requested would not be needed for the first phases
of peacekeeping, although it is possible someone tried to convince the Swazi
government they were required. The GKOS [Government of the Kingdom of
Swaziland] may have been attempting to build up domestic capability to deal
with unrest, or was possibly acting as an intermediary for a third party such
as Zimbabwe or a Middle Eastern country that had cash, diamonds or goods to
trade.’
Once the cable became public in
2011, John Kunene, Principal Secretary in the Ministry of Defence, who signed the original deal in 2008, said
the kingdom had never given up trying to buy the weapons.
In March 2011 Kunene was sacked from his job after a disclosure that the army
had run out of food to feed its soldiers.
See also
MONEY FOR
KING’S JET, BUT NOT DROUGHT
SECRET ARMS DEAL FOR IRAN
SUPPORT
FOR BLOCK ON SWAZI ARMS
ARMS SHIPMENT HEADS TO SWAZILAND
http://swazimedia.blogspot.com/2011/03/arms-shipment-heads-to-swaziland.html
