LUDZIDZINI, Swaziland, Sept. 6 (UPI) -- As the impoverished African kingdom of Swaziland celebrated its 40th year of independence Saturday, dissidents were criticizing its king's lavish lifestyle.
King Mswati III, with a fortune estimated at $200 million, is also celebrating his 40th birthday. The event has prompted protests drawing thousands into the streets of Swaziland's two biggest cities, The New York Times reported.
Media reports of Mswati's 13 wives receiving new luxury cars and going on foreign shopping trips via chartered airplanes have angered some in a country where the monarch is still largely revered, the newspaper said. Some 1,500 protesters marched through the capital of Ludzidzini recently, it reported.
Critics say poverty and malnourishment has worsened in Swaziland, in part because of an AIDS epidemic, and average life expectancy has fallen from 60 years in 1997 to barely half that now.
"The king spends our money and is not answerable to anyone!" Mario Masuku, the head of an outlawed political party, told the newspaper.
