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/ 29 August 2005

Swazi girls offer reeds to King Mswati

Tens of thousands of unmarried Swazi girls gathered at the royal residence on Sunday to lay down reeds as part of a week-long celebration of national pride that will culminate in King Mswati III selecting a new virgin bride. The bare-breasted girls in brightly coloured traditional fabric and clutching clumps of reeds, sang and stamped their feet as they edged along a snaking queue toward the thatched dwellings at Ludzidzini.

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/ 27 July 2005

Swazi king signs new Constitution, keeps powers

Africa’s last absolute monarch, King Mswati III, on Tuesday signed Swaziland’s first Constitution, which preserves his sweeping powers and still outlaws political parties. The monarch put his signature to the fundamental law, which took eight years to be drafted, during a gathering at the queen mother’s palace at Ludzidzini.

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/ 22 September 2004

Swazis discuss new Constitution

Thousands of people gathered in the small kingdom of Swaziland on Tuesday for the first public talks on the country’s long-awaited new Constitution, criticised by pro-democracy groups for not curbing the king’s powers. The tiny country wedged between South Africa and Mozambique was expected to adopt the Constitution before the end of the month.