Uganda: King Mswati Meets Museveni
 |
 |
|||||||||
|
||||||||||
|
|
|||||||||
|
||||||||||
New Vision (Kampala)
6 July 2008
Posted to the web 7 July 2008
Barbara Among
Kampala
King Mswati III of the Kingdom of Swaziland arrived in Uganda yesterday for a four-day state visit.
Accompanying the king was his ritual wife, Inkhosikati LaMotsa, who is the UNDP Goodwill Ambassador, their four children, the King's brother, Prince Mabizela, and his sister, Princess Ncengencenga.
President Yoweri Museveni welcomed them at State House Entebbe, flanked by the first lady, Janet Museveni, Vice-President Prof. Gilbert Bukenya and five ministers. The visiting head of state was accorded a 21-gun salute and inspected a guard of honour mounted by the UPDF upon his arrival at 4:00pm.
His Majesty was then ushered into State house, where he signed the visitors' book before his group was motored to Kampala.
Female journalists were chased out by State House protocol because they were wearing trousers. It took the intervention of Presidential Principal Private Secretary, Amelia Kyambadde, to allow them cover the function.
In the evening, President Museveni hosted a private dinner in honour of the Swazi ruler, whose delegation also includes the royal governor, Vacu Mgongo, and Swaziland's foreign minister Moses Mathendele Dlamini.
The king is here to discuss new areas of cooperation, particularly in the fields of trade and HIV/AIDS.
Together with his family, Mswati will this morning visit the source of the Nile and later hold meetings with several government officials.
Swaziland is a land-locked country in southern Africa with a population of 1.2 million. It has the highest HIV/AIDS prevalence rate in the world; 38.8% of Swazis are HIV-positive, a matter that the king has taken to heart.
King Mswati has travelled internationally to try and raise money, increase awareness, and seek solutions to curb the epidemic. World-renowned musicians like Michael Jackson have signed on and recorded an album to raise funds for Swazi orphans.
Mswati III succeeded his late father in 1986, at the age of 18. He is Africa's last absolute monarch in the sense that he has the power to choose the prime minister, other top government and traditional leaders.
Relevant Links
He has over 27 children from his more than 16 wives and over 200 brothers and sisters since his late father, King Sobhuza II, had 70 wives.
Read comments. Write your own.
|
AllAfrica aggregates and indexes content from over 125 African news organizations, plus more than 200 other sources, who are responsible for their own reporting and views. Articles and commentaries that identify allAfrica.com as the publisher are produced or commissioned by AllAfrica. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
Copyright © 2008 New Vision. All rights reserved. Distributed by AllAfrica Global Media (allAfrica.com). To contact the copyright holder directly for corrections -- or for permission to republish or make other authorized use of this material, click here.
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
Make allAfrica.com your home page
|
RSS Feed
Sign up for FREE daily 'top headlines' by email >> | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Top | Site Guide | Who We Are | Advertising | Search | My Account | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Questions or Comments? Contact us. Read our Privacy Statement. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
