Africa-Press – Eswatini. Eswatini government expresses hope that Africa and indeed, the whole world; will heed to His Majesty King Mswati III’s call to silence the guns and for the military to go back to where they belong, which is the barracks.
This was relayed through a statement issued by Government Spokesperson Alpheous Nxumalo.
During the 55th double celebration, His Majesty the King reiterated his call for the silencing of guns in the region and the world.
The King said the Kingdom of Eswatini would remain ceased with the geopolitics of the world and called for peace and stability to prevail in the continent and the global community in easing the tensions and silencing all guns.
He said as global powers shift and technologies advance, the relationship between countries is becoming ever more complex. “As the kingdom celebrates 55 years of independence, we also acclaim 55 years of international relations, which resulted in the growth of the country. We were able to use these developed states to benchmark and appreciate the improvement in our kingdom,” he said.
His Majesty added that the kingdom cherishes the relations it currently has with numerous nations the world over and looks forward to nourishing these while also establishing new ones.
“We shall continue to establish more trade relations and partnerships with all countries of the world for the benefit of the business community and the country at large.
Our country is a friend to all nations of the world and an enemy to none,” he added. In his statement, Nxumalo said as Emaswati commemorated the 55/55 Double Celebration the King had a message also for Africa and for the world at large.
“In His Majesty’s call and quest to silence the guns in Africa, he condemned the coup d’etat which is a sudden, violent and unlawful seizure of power from government, which has been carried out by the military especially in Northern Africa, in the region known as the Saher.
“The King rightfully pointed out that such developments will retard the dream of fast – tracking the economic development of Africa, especially in utilising the opportunities of trade and investments as envisaged in the Africa Free Trade Market initiatives,” he said.
Nxumalo added that the politics of mutiny and military incursions into civilian affairs should be discouraged at all costs. He said the world had seen these coups d’etat sometimes occurring within another coup d’etat as the case has been in Burkina Faso.
The government mouthpiece acknowledged that soldiers were human beings too, and acknowledged that they held a view or an opinion.
However, discipline came in with their training, which amongst other discipline codes and practices; included the ability and capacity to restrain and avoid airing their respective opinions and views in the public domain or market of public ideas.
He pointed out that military governments were not an answer to Africa’s perennial political and economic problems.
“Yes, it may be true that in some instances, civilian governments have been the cause of the plethora and cocktail of grievances such as poverty, lack of opportunities and political and financial corruption, whose total culmination is failure of governance institutions, however, military uniforms do not make soldiers any better qualified than their civilian counterparts, who, in the majority of cases, have been especially selected and trained for their respective jobs,” he said.
Nxumalo further said military governments generally lack the ideological or political basis with which to whip up public support and enthusiasm for their public policies; if they would develop and have any at all.
He said political leadership demanded a set of values, qualities and characteristics different from those required in the military leadership.
Therefore, the ecstasy, celebrations and jubilation that has been evoked by some of these military takeovers in Africa, amongst the populations, were not only temporary but also deceptive and misleading and it could not be “utopia” so soon, added Nxumalo.
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