By Zweli Martin Dlamini

MBABANE:King Mswati commissioned a delegation to try and lobby United States(US) Senators amid looming targeted sanctions.

According to US diplomatic sources very close to the matter, the delegation is expected to try and convince the Senators not to pass Resolution 174 that seeks to, among others, impose targeted sanctions on human rights violators in the Kingdom of eSwatini.

“It’s true that the King sent a delegation to try and lobby Senators not to vote for the resolution,” said the insider.

US Senator Christopher Coons tabled Resolution 174 that was approved by the US Senate Foreign Relations Committee, it is highly expected to be debated by the US Congress.

A questionnaire was sent to King’s Spokesperson Percy Simelane on the latest developments, however, he had not responded at the time of compiling this report.

But the King’s Spokesperson,when responding to our questionnaire earlier said, they wouldn’t be surprised if the King could be included in the list of sanctions, accusing the United States(US) of supporting replacement of Governments military.

“We have not seen the proposal.We would,however,not be surprised if he was included because Americans have a long history of making  mistakes.In Afghanistan they supported a replacement Government and protected its militarily for over a decade but it collapsed less than two weeks after Washington pulled out its troops from that country.In Iraq they accused leader Sadam Husain of having developed weapons of mass destruction in the beginning of the century and executed him but the UN has not found anything to that effect up to today.Libyan Leader Muammar Qadaffi was executed after accusations of being  an  undemocratic dictator.However, a study on how and why he was killed revealed that Qadaffi was actually more democratic than those who planned his execution,” said the King’s Spokesperson.