Headline, July 10 2021/ ''' '' ESWATINI -STUDENTS- ENTREATY '' '''

''' '' ESWATINI -STUDENTS-

 ENTREATY '' '''

ON THE WORLD STUDENTS SOCIETY GOOD, GREAT AND INFORMED READERS would observe and note that we have only 7 readers, Yes, just seven readers from Eswatini, as explosive protests begin a deeper and a growing unrest in Eswatini.

THE ROOTS OF THE CURRENT UPRISING lie in the death in May 4 of a University law student in a car accident, the authorities said, but students said it was at the hands of the police.

That led to major protests with dissident lawmakers standing with demonstrators and calling for the nation to move to a system with an elected prime minister.

As Africa's last absolute monarch, King Mswati III of Eswatini chooses his country's prime minister and cabinet and possesses the power to dissolve Parliament. His grip on the nation's limited economic sources has underwritten a lavish lifestyle of luxury cars and palaces, and his children flaunt their  opulent birthday parties on social media. 

SIX OUT OF 10 CITIZENS LIVE IN UTTER POVERTY. MANY in this tiny landlocked nation wedged between South Africa and Mozambique, are on the brink of hunger and have to cross into South Africa to find work - their lives in stark contrast to their leader's abundance.

NOW, it seems, many of the kingdom's 1.1 million inhabitants have had it with this imbalance : Over the past week or more, the tiny southern African nation, formerly known as Swaziland, has descended into the most explosive civil unrest in its 53 years of independence.

Thousands of protesters have taken to the streets in the executive capital, Mbabane, and elsewhere with many burning and looting businesses in which the king holds a stake.

Gas and food are in short supply across the country, as supply trucks idle at the border, unable to enter the country amid the unrest, according to news reports. And there have been Internet blackouts, which activists believe to be a deliberate attempt by the government to suppress information.

Messages left for a government spokesman and for Themba Masuku, the acting prime minister, were not returned,

But in a statement released last week, Mr. Masuku, who serves at the pleasure of the King Mswati III, emphasised the importance of rooting out all violence and vandalism.

''Unfortunately, the protests we are seeing of late have been hijacked by criminal elements,'' the statement said. ''Our security forces are on the ground to maintain law and order.''

Things appeared to calm down in the cities on Thursday and Friday, as the military took control of areas of widespread unrest and protesters grew concerned about being shot, said Brian Sangweni, the spokesman for the People's United Democratic Movement, a pro-democracy political party that the Eswatini government has deemed a terrorist group.

Much of the protest activity had shifted to rural areas, where the security forces are more thinly stretched, he said.

The nation no bigger than Israel, is nevertheless no stranger to major unrest. After the country gained independence in 1968, Sobhuza II, whom the British colonizers had designated the top chief, became king. Just five years into his reign, he tore up the constitution and banned political parties, placing most of the control of the country in his hands.

The power was passed down to 18-year-old- Prince Makhosetive, King Sonhuza II's son, in 1986, four years after the king's death. The prince took the title King Mswati III.

Even though King Mswari III, now 53, acceded to popular demands for a new constitution in 2005, he has maintained absolute power. His family holds a stake in numerous business ventures, including a cut of at least 25 percent of mining deals in the country. Much of that wealth goes towards supporting his sprawling family - 15wives and more than 30 children.

That grandiose spending, while so much of the population suffers, has been hopelessly and helplessly protested over the years.

Part of what has made the current protests so intense, activists said, is that some members of the Parliament have taken the rare step of openly criticizing the monarchy and calling for democracy.

The African National Congress, the ruling party in South Africa, responded with a statement urging the Eswatini government to take up democratic reforms and stop its ''brutal repression of legitimate civilian concerns.''

Nathalie Nddngo-Seh, the United Nations resident director in Eswatini, said it was difficult to obtain information about events on the ground. She urged restraint on both sides and said the path forward demanded nuance.

During a series of dialogues that the U.N. held at the country last year, citizens expressed pride in the cultural heritage of having a royal family but also wanted a more democratic system, she said. ''They always say that they want a system that would be like in England,'' Ms. Ndongo-Seh said, adding that many expressed confidence that change would come.

But they don't think the process would look like this. ''Everyone,'' she said, ''hoped this would be done in a peaceful, almost natural manner.''

The Honor and Serving of the Latest Global Operational Research on the State-of-the-World, continues. The World Students Society thanks author John Eligon.

With respectful dedication to the Students, Professors and Teachers of Eswatini and then the entire  world. See Ya all prepare and register for Great Global Elections on The World Students Society - for every subject in the world : wssciw.blogspot.com and Twitter - !E-WOW! - The Ecosystem 2011 :

Good Night and God Bless

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