Swaziland
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1968 Sep 6 |
Swaziland in southern Africa gained independence from Britain. Links: Britain, Swaziland
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1973 |
In Swaziland political parties were banned and a state of emergency was declared. Links: Swaziland
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1980 Apr 1 |
The southern African Development Coordination Conference was established by 9 countries with the Lusaka declaration (Angola, Botswana, Lesotho, Malawi, Mozambique, Swaziland, Tanzania, Zambia, Zimbabwe). On August 17, 1992, it was transformed into the Southern African Development Community. By 2008 it included 15 members. Links: Angola, Botswana, Lesotho, Malawi, Tanzania, Mozambique, Zimbabwe, Zambia, Swaziland
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1997 May 27 |
In Mbabane, Swaziland, health authorities were shocked by chief Jameson Ndznatabantfu Maseko who banned the use of condoms on the basis of biblical law. Links: Swaziland, Religion
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1997 |
The Swaziland government issued a decree naming Ted Reilly, his son, daughter and five aides as game rangers. Under Swazi law, the rangers were allowed to shoot and kill poachers caught in the act. Links: Swaziland
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1999 Mar 25 |
In South Africa Wouter Basson, the former head of chemical and biological warfare dubbed "Doctor Death," was indicted on 64 charges that included murder, theft and fraud. Conspiracy charges for offenses in Namibia, Swaziland, Mozambique and Britain were later dismissed. 61 charges remained. Basson was acquitted of 46 counts of murder, fraud and drug dealing in 2002. Links: Britain, South Africa, Mozambique, Swaziland, Namibia, Fraud
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2001 Sep 29 |
It was reported that Swaziland King Mswati III had told the country’s young women to stop having sex for 5 years to help stop the spread of AIDS. 25% of the country’s 900,000 people were estimated to be infected. Links: AIDS, Swaziland
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2002 Jun |
Bruce Wilkinson, Georgia preacher and author of “The Prayer of Jabez,” used a US government grant of $108,000 to fund a conference on AIDS for ministers in Swaziland. Wilkinson proceeded to embark on a mission to save children in Swaziland orphaned by AIDS in a program that he called Dream for Africa. Links: GeorgiaUS, USA, AIDS, Swaziland
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2002 Aug 2 |
A government plan to buy Swaziland's King Mswati III a $250 million luxury jet, a price five times the nation's national deficit, drew protests in this South African nation, which has been plagued by severe food shortages. Links: Swaziland
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2002 |
Swaziland's King Mswati III abducted a schoolgirl for his 10th wife. Links: Swaziland
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2003 Sep 11 |
Swaziland's King Mswati III selected his 12th bride, less than a week after he picked bride No. 11 from thousands of young Swazi maidens. Links: Swaziland
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2003 Oct 18 |
In Swaziland voters chose a new parliament in one of the world's last absolute monarchies, while pro-democracy groups denounced the vote as a sham. Political parties were banned and King Mswati III ruled by royal decree. Links: Swaziland
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2004 Jan 13 |
A senior Swaziland aide said King Mswati III has ordered nine palaces built within existing royal compounds to house seven of his 10 wives and two future brides. Some $15 million of his impoverished kingdom's national budget would be used on the project. Links: Swaziland
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2004 Jul 15 |
The Gates Foundation announced a $44.7 million award at the AIDS Conference in Bangkok to a consortium of TB and AIDS researchers. The 2 diseases were often linked. A UN report cited 7 countries as the hardest hit by the AIDS pandemic: Zimbabwe, Swaziland, Lesotho, Zambia, Malawi, the Central African Republic and Mozambique. Links: Lesotho, Thailand, Malawi, Mozambique, Zimbabwe, Zambia, AIDS, Donation, CAR, Swaziland
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2005 Feb 23 |
Bruce Wilkinson, Georgia preacher and author of “The Prayer of Jabez,” gave the Swaziland government a 34-page proposal for his Dream for Africa program. It included demands for a 99-year lease on 32,500 acres between 2 game parks and control of the game parks. The government did not accept the proposal. In October Dream for Africa announced that Mr. Wilkinson had resigned, but that the program would continue. Links: GeorgiaUS, USA, AIDS, Swaziland
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2005 Nov 24 |
The UN food agency said the United States has thrown a lifeline to six southern African countries, donating food aid valued at $45 million. The food will be distributed across Lesotho, Malawi, Mozambique, Swaziland, Zambia and Zimbabwe. Links: USA, UN, Lesotho, Malawi, Mozambique, Zimbabwe, Zambia, Swaziland
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2005 |
Swaziland adopted a new constitution which included guarantees of basic freedoms. Links: Swaziland
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2006 Feb 8 |
Swaziland’s new constitution went into effect. Links: Swaziland
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2006 Dec 20 |
It was reported that Swaziland had the worst AIDS problem in the world with one in 3 Swazis between 15 and 49 infected with HIV. Links: AIDS, Swaziland
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2006 |
Swaziland’s population was about 1.1 million. Links: Swaziland
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2007 Aug 9 |
Officials said a total of 28 people died and hundreds of homes were destroyed by a series of forest fires which swept through parts of South Africa and Swaziland since the end of last month. Links: South Africa, Fire, Swaziland
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2007 Sep 1 |
Life expectancy in Andorra was reported to be longer than in any other world country, while the same in Swaziland was reported to be the shortest. Links: Swaziland, Andorra
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2007 Nov 23 |
A study commissioned by the state's emergency response council said nearly a third of Swaziland's children are considered orphaned and vulnerable as AIDS takes its toll on the country. Close to 40 percent of Swaziland adults are living with HIV and AIDS, the highest infection rate anywhere in the world. Links: AIDS, Swaziland, Kids
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2008 Jul 16 |
The United States signed a pair of agreements to boost trade and investment ties with countries in southern and eastern Africa. These included the Trade, Investment and Development Cooperation Agreement with the Southern Africa Customs Union (SACU), which includes Botswana, Lesotho, Namibia, South Africa and Swaziland; and the Trade Investment and Framework Agreement (TIFA) with the East African Community, which includes Burundi, Kenya, Rwanda, Tanzania and Uganda. Links: Botswana, USA, Burundi, Lesotho, South Africa, Tanzania, Rwanda, Kenya, Uganda, Swaziland, Namibia
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2008 Sep 6 |
Swaziland King Mswati III celebrated his 40th birthday and the nation’s 40th year of independence in a lavish extravaganza officially estimated at $2.5 million, but widely believed to have cost 5 times more. Mswati remained Africa’s last absolute monarch and lived a luxurious lifestyle with his 13 wives. Some 70% of the population of 1 million lived below the poverty line and nearly 40% of adults were infected with the AIDS virus. Links: AIDS, Swaziland
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2008 Sep 10 |
Officials said at least 89 people have died in wildfires sweeping through Mozambique, South Africa and Swaziland. Links: South Africa, Mozambique, Fire, Swaziland
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2008 Nov 15 |
Mario Masuku (b.1951), Swaziland leader of the opposition People’s United Democratic Movement (Pudemo), was jailed. Links: Swaziland
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2009 Feb 20 |
A Swaziland government report said about 42 percent of pregnant women in the country are infected with the virus that causes AIDS, a 3 percent jump in a single year. An estimated 185,000 of Swaziland's 1 million people are HIV positive, and about 30,000 are receiving antiretrovirals. Links: AIDS, Swaziland
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2009 Jun 16 |
The US added six African countries to a blacklist of countries trafficking in people, and put US trading partner Malaysia back on the list. Chad, Eritrea, Niger, Mauritania, Swaziland, and Zimbabwe were added to the list in the annual report. Removed from the list were Qatar, Oman, Algeria, and Moldova. Links: Algeria, Qatar, Niger, USA, Malaysia, Chad, Zimbabwe, Eritrea, Moldova, Oman, Mauritania, Swaziland
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2010 Apr 19 |
Winners of the 2010 Goldman Environmental Prizes, known as the "green Nobels," were honored in San Francisco. Sereivathana Tuy of Cambodia won for his efforts in stopping farmers from killing elephants. Randall Arauz of Costa Rica won for his campaign to halt the maiming and killing of sharks for their fins. Humberto Rios Labrada (47) of Cuba won for his campaign to shift farming practices toward increasing diversity and reducing chemical use. Malgorzata Gorska of Poland won for her fight to stop a highway through the Rospuda Valley, one of Poland’s last vestiges of untouched wilderness. Thuli Makama of Swaziland won for her efforts in getting citizen participation on the Swaziland board in charge of the environment. She helped prompt investigations into allegations of private park rangers killing suspected poachers in sub-Saharan Africa's last absolute monarchy. Lynn Henning of the USA won for exposing polluting practices of livestock ranches in Michigan. Links: Costa Rica, Cambodia, Poland, Environment, Cuba, Michigan, Swaziland
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