Twenty-seven people died last week during pro-democracy protests in the southern African kingdom of Eswatini, a minister told AFP on Wednesday. x“Unfortunately, yes, 27 people lost their lives,” Commerce Minister Manqoba Khumalo said in a phone interview, expressing regret that force had to be used to break up the protests. xEswatini, previously called Swaziland, is a tiny landlocked state of 1.3 million people, sandwiched between South Africa and Mozambique. Protestors last week ramped up demands for political reform in the country — Africa’s last absolute monarchy. The government deployed the army to reinforce the police to break up the demonstrations.

Source: The Guardian July 07, 2021 17:15 UTC