SWAZILAND: Summit with South Africa indefinitely postponed

MBABANE, 15 Mar 2005 (IRIN) - A summit between King Mswati III and South African President Thabo Mbeki has been indefinitely postponed, a Swazi foreign ministry source told IRIN on Tuesday. Pro-Democracy groups had hoped that Mbeki would use the occasion to press for political reform in sub-Saharan Africa's last absolute monarchy.

"The original date of the summit, 23 March, proved too close to the Easter holiday weekend, which begins 25 March," a ministry source told IRIN. He said no substitute date had been proposed for the first face-to-face private meeting between the leaders.

In a statement, Foreign Minister Mabili Dlamini challenged speculation that the summit was called by Mbeki, who has never met with Mswati, to press the king on legalising opposition parties and loosening the grip of the royal family.

"The two heads of state are very eager to meet at a mutual level. The whole issue has been made to look like a secret agenda by the South African government on Swaziland. In actual fact, the meeting is all about facilitating the establishment of closer links between the two heads of state," the minister said.

"All this talk about the South African president coming here to dictate terms and tell the king how to run the country is neither here nor there," Dlamini said.

The foreign ministry said the summit would be guided by an agreement signed by the neighbouring countries to create a Joint Bilateral Commission for Cooperation, entered into last year and valid for five years.

The agreement, whose content has not been made public before, calls for "good neighbourliness and non-interference in each other's internal affairs". Government officials point to this clause as proof that South Africa cannot involve itself in Swaziland's domestic issues.

However, an expected topic of the summit is precluded by the countries' bilateral agreement, which also calls for "respect for each other's sovereignty and territorial integrity".

King Mswati wants three sections of South Africa reincorporated into Swaziland, effectively enlarging his landlocked country by one-third and extending its border to the Indian Ocean, making millions of South Africans his subjects. The royal government insists that the land belonged to Swazis when it was incorporated into South Africa by the British during colonial rule in the 19th century.

South Africa has contended that a border adjustment is not possible under the rules of the African Union, inherited from the Organisation of African Unity, in which all member states have pledged to honour national borders drawn up during colonial times.

The content of the summit talks has been a matter of considerable speculation in the Swazi press and among political observers.

"The real problem that the two leaders need to unravel is what kind of political leadership Swaziland practices. Swazis cannot survive politically and economically any longer without agreeing to certain concessions with the advocates of democracy," said Dr Joshua Mzizi, former head of the Human Rights Organisation of Swaziland.

Mbeki has been criticised for allegedly ignoring the non-democratic government of a neighbouring country. "Mbeki adopted an 'I don't care' attitude when it came to dealing with the Kingdom," said political commentator Vusi Sibisi.

"The challenge is of the king to come out of the traditionalist cocoon that is holding him hostage, and follow the rest of humanity's path of democracy," he added.

[ENDS]