LUANDA: King Mswati came hard on the Southern African Development Community(SADC) for refusing to assist him to fight what he described as ‘terrorists’ in the Kingdom of eSwatini.
Mswati, an absolute Monarch has been using soldiers and the police to shoot and kill dozens of civilians merely for, demanding democratic reforms.
Addressing the SADC Summit on Thursday at Luanda-Angola, the King said, he made a request for assistance to fight terrorist but regional organization failed to assist him.
“When we attended the SADC Summit in August last year in Kinshasa, DRC, the request made on behalf of the Kingdom of Eswatini was that SADC assists us with curtailing the terrorist outbreak that had befallen us as a country.It was with great surprise that instead of assistance being given to Eswatini to curb these activities, we were effectively told that we should negotiate with the perpetrators of violence.The question that arose in our minds was, where else in Africa has a Government been told to negotiate with terrorist entities? We are always happy to dialogue with those we disagree with within the provisions of our constitution, but not with terrorists. This was a very peculiar position and one that we were, in all honesty, disappointed with,” said the King.
The King said any assistance given to any member state must be based on the facts as they obtain on the ground rather than a dogmatic adherence to a predetermined approach.
“In this way, we would be able to genuinely assist each other and not allow subjective intent to interfere with the pursuit of peace.The Kingdom of Eswatini is pleased to be able to report to the Troika that we have since been able to restore peace on our own. Eswatini has been enjoying sustained peace and stability,” he said.
King Mswati with other SADC leaders.