According to ezinereligion, in 2007, Swaziland had a population of around 1.2 million people. The economy was largely driven by agriculture, forestry, mining and tourism. Swaziland had strong foreign relations with other countries in the region as well as with the rest of the world. In terms of politics, Swaziland was an absolute monarchy ruled by King Mswati III since 1986. The government had been implementing economic reforms that aimed to reduce poverty and promote economic growth.
Additionally, the government also worked towards improving educational opportunities for all citizens and eliminating racial disparities in access to healthcare, housing, education and employment opportunities. Furthermore, the government also sought to improve Swaziland’s infrastructure by investing in roads, railways and ports. Finally, the government worked to promote regional cooperation through diplomatic initiatives with countries in the region.
Yearbook 2007
Swaziland. During the year, the conflict between the opposition and the king continued in Africa’s only absolute monarchy. In April, 16 members of the banned opposition movement PUDEMO (People’s United Democratic Movement) were arrested in a protest action demanding democratization. In the same month, it became known that King Mswati III married his 13th wife, who was thus endowed with luxury in the form of palaces and cars. At the same time, the king planned his own birthday party for the equivalent of SEK 14 million. Mswati’s extravagant lifestyle has caused growing outrage in a country where about 40 percent of adults are HIV-infected, 70 percent of the population lives on less than a dollar a day and a famine is emerging.
- According to abbreviationfinder: WZ is the 2-letter acronym for the country of Swaziland.
According to CountryAAH, Mbabane is the capital city of Swaziland. The drought in the region hit Swaziland so hard that the government talked about the worst ever. This year’s corn harvest was disastrous. The UN Food Agency warned that about 400,000 people, about a third of Swaziland’s residents, could starve to death until the 2008 harvest if the outside world did not receive enough help. The UN appealed for assistance to Swaziland equivalent to over SEK 100 million.
The chairman of the National Crisis Committee said that global warming was behind the rising rate of drought in Swaziland. The rain used to come every year in September, but now it will be November or even December before the rain falls, Ben Nsibandze said. However, in spite of the food crisis, Swaziland continued to export biomass from the basic commodity maniac. Thousands of hectares of land were used for ethanol production in the area most affected by the drought.
In July, thousands of public servants marched in protest against the regime and demanded democracy. The requirements also applied to pay and working conditions, but the main requirement was that the ban on political parties should be lifted until the 2008 elections.
Physical characteristics
Swaziland is a state in southern Africa, bordering for a short distance to the NE with Mozambique and for the rest surrounded by the territory of the Republic of South Africa (Mpumalanga and Kwazulu-Natal). In April 2018 the country took on the name of Kingdom of eSwatini.
In the territory, which is part of the vast tabular region of southern Africa, three morphological bands of sloping altitude are distinguished, proceeding from NW to SE: the Highveld (a plateau that remains at 1200 m asl), the Middleveld (zone of hills interspersed with short shelves, whose average height is about 700 m), the Lowveld (lowland in which no more than 300 m is exceeded, closed to the East by the Ubombo Mountains, which are a section of the raised outer edge of the South African highlands).
The three bands also differ in their pluviometric characteristics, since rainfall, which falls everywhere in the summer, progressively decreases from over 1500 mm per year in the Highveld to less than 500 mm in the Lowveld.
The hydrographic network is formed by short watercourses (the most notable is the Umbuluzi) which originate in the Transvaal and cross the territory before flowing into the Indian Ocean.
Swaziland weather in March, April and May
Average daily temperatures between 21 ° C and 24 ° C can be expected over the next three months. Mbabane is the warmest in March, while May is a little cooler.
The expected rainfall is around 14 days in March, around 10 days in April and around 5 days in May.