Sikukuu ya 40-40 huko Swaziland Leo!

Leo ni sikukuu ya 40-40 huko Swaziland. Mfalme Mswati III anaseherekea miaka 40 tangua azaliwe, na pia nchi ya Swaziland inashrekea miaka 40 tangu ipate uhuru.

Lakini habu cheki hizi takrimu za Swaziland:

Watu wasio na kazi ni 40%.
Watu wenye UKIMWI huko Swaziiland ni 40%
Mmoja ya kati ya waSwazi wanne wataishi zaidi ya miaka 40

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MBABANE, Swaziland (AP) -- The Swazi king entered a stadium in an open-topped BMW to cheers and flag-waving Saturday, marking his 40th birthday and his country's 40th independence anniversary.

The lavish ceremony however was at odds with the biting poverty endured by the majority of King Mswati III's citizens.

Earlier, thousands of maidens who had performed for the king last weekend at the annual Reed Dance proceeded into the stadium, as did leaders of most of the countries in the region.

Zimbabwe's President Robert Mugabe, popular among many in the region because he is seen as standing up to the West, was greeted with cheers.

The cost of the celebrations was officially put at $2.5 million, but it was widely believed to be at least five times more. It left a sour taste among the 70 percent of Swaziland's one million population who survive below the poverty line.
The government called Saturday's events the 40-40 festivities, marking the king's birthday and the anniversary of independence from Britain.

But the number 40 cuts both ways -- unemployment: 40 percent; HIV rates: nearly 40 percent among adults. Only one in four Swazis can expect to live to celebrate their 40th birthday because of the world's worst AIDS rate.

Swaziland holds parliamentary elections later this month, but critics have dismissed them as a sham because political parties are banned and so voters have to choose from a list of individuals with no strong political platform.

Mswati is Africa's last absolute monarch. He is widely revered but there is anger about the luxurious lifestyle enjoyed by him and his 13 wives. There was outrage when about eight of his 13 wives flew to Dubai for a birthday party shopping spree.

One in five of the population depends on international food aid, partly because AIDS has devastated the rural way of life and led to an explosion in child-headed households who can't tend the fields. Life expectancy has nearly halved since 1998 because of the AIDS epidemic and is now less than 31 years, according to the most recent U.N. figures.