King Mswati III, Africa’s last absolute monarch, cracks down

THABANI NKOMONYE was last seen alive on May 8th. A few days later the body of the 25-year-old law student was found in a field near Manzini in Eswatini. The police say he died in a car crash. Friends and family say the police killed him.

Mr Nkomonye’s death has sparked protests across the country of 1.2m people. On June 29th, after demonstrations intensified, the government announced a dusk-to-dawn curfew and shut off the internet. Swazi journalists say that doctors have confirmed at least 50 deaths at the hands of security forces. The government says that 27 people have died and that its forces were defending themselves and private property against “rioters and foreign agents”.