By Bongiwe Dlamini

NEWYORK: King Mswati told the United Nations(UN) General Assembly that he was concerned amid coups within  the African continent.

Mswati rules eSwatini as an absolute Monarch, political parties are banned from participating in elections while political activists and human rights defenders are arrested, tortured and killed for demanding democracy.

“Of great concern are the conflicts, coups and unconstitutional changes of governments in several African states, which are negating the gains towards attaining our African Union goals,” said the King when addressing the UN General Assembly this week.

Reached for comments by this Swaziland News on Thursday, Lucky Dlamini, the Chairperson of the Swaziland United Democratic Front(SUDF) said, coups normally happened in the absence of a genuine dialogue.

“Coups don’t just happen overnight, the people normally alert that particular Head of State that they are not happy with certain things. But the world supports a dialogue as one of the most effective conflict resolution mechanisms. One would advise the King to consider engaging in a dialogue if he is worried about a coup”, said the SUDF Chairperson when interviewed by editor Zweli Martin Dlamini.

The army in Mali,Burkina Faso,Niger and Gabon recently removed dictators from power.