Finally feeling a bit settled after 7 days in Swaziland. I'm finally over a furious case of jet lag...lsing 6 hours will do anybody in. I guess the first couple out in Manzini didn't help either ;-) Its strange but it feels as if I never left this kingdom. If you talk to any foreigner in Swaziland they always speak of the instant comfort you feel here. But the feeling is bittersweet afetr hearing the sobering facts about the declining population.
With a population of a mere 1,123,913 people, population estimates explicitly take into account the effects of excess mortality due to AIDS; this can result in lower life expectancy, higher infant mortality, higher death rates, lower population growth rates, and changes in the distribution of population by age and sex than would otherwise be expected (July 2009 est.)
Autonomy for the Swazis of southern Africa was guaranteed by the British in the late 19th century; independence was granted in 1968. Student and labor unrest during the 1990s pressured King MSWATI III, the world's last absolute monarch, to grudgingly allow political reform and greater democracy, although he has backslid on these promises in recent years. A constitution came into effect in 2006, but political parties remain banned. The African United Democratic Party tried unsuccessfully to register as an official political party in mid 2006. Talks over the constitution broke down between the government and progressive groups in 2007. Swaziland recently surpassed Botswana as the country with the world's highest known HIV/AIDS prevalence rate.
