The army is deployed in primary schools to quell student demonstrations against the last king of Africa
Yesterday, Monday, pro-democracy activists in Eswatini announced that the authorities had deployed the army and police in the kingdom's schools to quell demonstrations carried out by students for weeks to demand political and social reforms.
For a month, schoolchildren in this kingdom, which was called Swaziland, have been carrying out an open-ended strike from school and participating in peaceful demonstrations to demand, in particular, the release of two pro-democracy demonstrators who were arrested earlier this year, in addition to improving study conditions and free education.
Eswatini, the landlocked country between Mozambique and South Africa, is the last country on the African continent that still adopts the absolute monarchy system.
A spokesman for the pro-democracy Society of Swaziland Solidarity Lucky Lokele told AFP that the army "has been deployed in schools to intimidate students, but this has not deterred them".
He added that "the military reinforcements have been intensified today," confirming the arrest of 17 students, one of whom is 7 years old.
A military spokeswoman confirmed the deployment of the army in the kingdom's schools, stressing that this measure aims to support the security forces and not "wage war" against students.
"The army is not the enemy of the people and its presence in schools does not mean waging war, it is just supporting the rest of the law enforcement forces," Tengitele Kumalo said.
However, Maduduzi Gina, Secretary General of the Eswatini Federation of Trade Unions, said that "students are calling for political reforms. Deploying the army (...) and the police in schools will only make the situation worse" in the kingdom.
In June, civil society and the opposition organized protests and demonstrations in the cities of Manzini and Mbabane, which witnessed looting of shops and theft of property, and clashes between the police and demonstrators left at least 27 people dead.
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