Autonomy for the Swazis
of southern Africa was guaranteed by the British
in the late 19th century; independence was granted
in 1968.
Student and labour unrest during the 1990s
pressured the monarchy (one of the oldest on
the continent) to grudgingly allow political reform
and greater democracy.
Swaziland recently surpassed
Botswana as the country with the world's highest
known rates of HIV/AIDS infection. In this small,
landlocked economy, subsistence agriculture occupies
more than 80% of the population. The manufacturing
sector has diversified since the mid-1980s. Sugar
and wood pulp remain important foreign exchange
earners. Mining has declined in importance in recent
years with only coal and quarry stone mines remaining
active. Surrounded by South Africa, except for a
short border with Mozambique, Swaziland is heavily
dependent on South Africa from which it receives
about nine-tenths of its imports and to which it
sends nearly three-quarters of its exports. Customs
duties from the Southern African Customs Union
and worker remittances from South Africa substantially
supplement domestically earned income. The government
is trying to improve the atmosphere for foreign
investment.
Overgrazing, soil depletion, drought,
and sometimes floods persist as problems for
the future. More than one-fourth of the population
needed emergency food aid in 2004-05 because of
drought, and more than one-third of the adult population
was infected by HIV/AIDS. |