A barricade in the road that is on fire is seen in Mbabane, eSwatini, on June 29, 2021. Demonstrations have escalated radically as protesters demand immediate political reforms.
The Kingdom of Eswatini, formerly Swaziland, is restless. The absolute monarch, King Mswati III, has tasted what most of Africa went through in the early 1990s, when the citizens demanded, and got, multiparty democracy.
Eswatini’s youthful population are demanding changes in the way they are ruled. They want an elected prime minister with executive powers, as well as freedom of speech, among other demands.
