Los Angeles Times Profiles Swaziland’s King, HIV/AIDS Epidemic
The Los Angeles Times today examines several recent actions taken by the king of Swaziland that have been criticized in light of the country's HIV/AIDS epidemic. HIV/AIDS is "wreaking ... havoc" among the county's people, and polygamous relationships are one of the "main drivers" of the county's 33% HIV infection rate, according to the Times. King Mswati III has nine wives and recently had an 18-year-old Swazi student "abducted" to be his 10th wife, the Times reports. Although 250,000 Swazi citizens do not have enough food to eat and approximately one-third of Swazi children will be orphaned by 2005, according to U.N. estimates, Mswati has proposed buying a $50 million jet and opening an Africa-themed amusement park in the capital Mbabane (Moore, Los Angeles Times, 12/19). The complete article in available online
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