when he heads into orbit later this month, fung passed astronaut training and the early 1900 sixty's, but she never made it to space because of her gender. i didn't say that i would ever get to go. i think it was on my way. while you're a girl. 2 you can't do that, i said, guess what, doesn't matter what you are, you can still do it if you want to go. and i like to do things that nobody is. john loved every 2nd of it. i get all the way. ah, the headlines on al jazeera, all us and nato troops have pulled out a bag ram airbase and i've gone on nearly 20 years after they arrived. the taliban says it welcomes on supports the exit. a complete withdrawal of us forces is expected by september 11. at martian worry has more from capital. it's

a big move here in the underground enough on it's on the us nearly all for 20 years . 100 or a background. we're basically, i one security forces this morning and of called the bargain, i mean basis symbolically and strategically was, it's very important for the us and that was handed over today. but i'm going to base was the place for more than around 60000 foreign troops from the 2009. and they were ordering all those military and ground gone military and oppression from this, this base and not only wanted some. i was also also in the region. the un says much needed aid is getting back into if you, if you has to grow region. but the situation remains dire. some 900000 people are in desperate need of foods and conflict broke out in november. her testers are gathering unoccupied, east jerusalem to express solid derossi's residence of the son. why neighbourhood doesn't de buildings. housing more than a 100 palestinian families are under threat of being demolished to make way for

a is really part and is really air strikes have hit the gaza strip overnight. israel said the raids were in response to incendiary balloons, launched by palestinian factions. have i says the strikes hit training sites and there were no casualties. canadian emergency officials are trying to account for more than a 1000 people who were forced to flee a wildfire on wednesday. 90 percent of the village of linton has been destroyed after an unprecedented heat wave. thousands of people in the philippines are also being forced to leave their homes after a volcano started spewing theme and talk the gas south of the capitol. former us president donald trump's company and its chief financial officer are being prosecuted for what's been described as a sweeping on o daisha tax fraud. the organization and alan wizell burg deny the charges. those are the headlines on al jazeera inside story is coming up. next, bye bye. me.

the protests for democracy and africa? law, absolute monarchy. the king of best was any friend lavishly while most in his country live in poverty. will he listen to the call for change this inside story? ah hello and welcome to the show i'm sammy's a than. that's what he and he is one of the world's last absolute monarchies.

kingdom swati has ruled the kingdom previously known a swaziland for 35 years bought for the past week. people have been defying curfews to demand democratic reforms that angry at widespread poverty. while the king spends millions on private jets and luxury calls, opposition groups say, soldiers have killed dozens of protesters, and the government has denied reports. the king has fled to south africa. that's what he and his regional allies of calling for political dialogue to come the rest will bring in our guests in a moment. first, this report like say, o'brien anger and frustration. an 8th, what teeny crowds built barricades confirmed tires despite an overnight curfews, while the opposition colon a tipping point for the nation. the demonstrations like this, a rare in the more landlocked country,

formerly known land. but the saint has been simmering for years. much of it focused on kingdom swati, africa, his last absolute monarch and one of the few remaining in the world is that he was crowned and $986.00 aged just pain and has unfettered political power. he has 15 wives. oh, it has been criticized for lavish spending. almost denise what, teeny live in poverty. we are there you anyway out so much you read by the government. sounds good. i'm with over time. if our government is no, no you get. all of them is is that the ones that i miss mama, the protestors say they want democracy, political parties, a band. and even though people are allowed to vote from in the parliament,

the opposition says they not elections. more selection of people signed off by the king of young people who don't want to keep to be part of the government in if you want to be part of the government, us citizen like the rest of us in court where everyone from shops in it's to biggest cities have been looted and others say on fire, the military being out to enforce the curfew, which the government says is to ensure the safety and security of residents. good about the opposition, say some protest has been killed and many others wounded. the acting prime minister says he's open to hearing the people complain that demonstration isn't the way to do it. nation that believe the government has opened an email address where must want to can continue to direct their concerns and petition

for decades. king and philosophies being portrayed as a deeply popular monarch. now the government being forced to deny reports, he fled the country. his kingdom appears to be in crisis, and sir bryan al jazeera. ah, ah, well, let's bring our guests into the show. joining us on the phone from us. what do you need them? them? good. see mccain? the leader of the opposition put demo party in cape town, we have senior political and country risk analyst men's the logo. he works at signal risk and in london, christopher van down research fellow with the africa program at chatham house. welcome to all if i could start with them gipsy 1st of all and that's what teeny, this is of course not the 1st time i'm langon. see that we've had protests in what teeny, all the protest different this time round though. indeed,

quite different this time about the time slot is faced with a generation of young people who had to take some time to look at themselves and decide their top few job day one of the times. and they lived at that point about it cannot be business as usual, and they've got to take a step and decisive step to load the final blow into the life of this. even jim men's, he, it sounds from walton dc is saying that this is quite serious. how accurate all the reports the protesters are being shot dead. yeah. so due to the closure of the, of the internet and restrictions you communications, the number of casualties con, be entirely verified. but what i'm hearing from my so on the ground. some of them

law family members, they can confirm that they have some bottom and violent struggle that has been inactive on the protesters, by, by the, by the army and by police. no, and this really is a project tree or a tendency that we are seen amongst s y b as security personnel throughout the reign of cam. so i think this tendon the to respond with co action to any kind of dissidence and any kind of grievances that are being publicly by the civilian population. chris, it seems this time round. the protests have been initially sparked by that government decree banning any petition for democratic reform. what prompted them to issue such a decree?

so what prompted them to issue a decrease the restrict democratic reform? i think it comes out of the prices that have been bubbling up following an incident earlier in may involving students in east genie and off the back of that, we've seen this growing rise in process so it's not just this, it's not just what's been happening in june, this is being a growing for some time think what's important here is to build on what i'm doing is been saying is the importance of the role of the youth in the protest and where we've seen protest in the past that have been organized either by the trade unions or by others that have be very specifically targeted towards the democratic reforms, but organized in a, a, kind of, in a strict away. they seem to be for free protest. and we think people say things and

seeing people do things is a little bit unprecedented in my question, if you're, if you're the, the government, why would you issue a decree to ban anyone even submitting a petition? why wouldn't you at least go through the motions except the petition and make the kind of statements it seems the government is now making saying, hey we, we hear what you guys are saying. and we're looking into why issue such a decree? because i think it's exactly what you're you'll get from cape town has been saying, which is that there is a clear memo for the government of east patina throughout the last couple of decades, which is when they think that things are going when the, when the pressure is starting to boil up than they clamped down. what's different here is that they tried that approach and they tried to get ahead of this and they tried to issue that degree and they tried to cross it. but actually what's going on here at the moment is different to what's happened in the past, and they haven't been able to cautious in the same way. and it's resulted in the

violence on the streets that we've seen. right? it does seem like things are escalating lung gacy, our protest is still calling simply for reform and end of corruption and so on. or are they now calling for a complete end of the monarchy? they're called from the protest. i have indeed escalated to the issue that they want in total punishment of this thing of them or not. but just to add on why crease will say, why don't we as well in that situation is the fact that the teeth of the tea have been leaving and posting on social media variable scene and the phase of grinding pover 2 for the madison. and since this thing was hold on, the social media and the people were reduced to spend the data when they see the family, please thing the point where it became

a part of and too many young people, that this is not just the family, but this is an institution of part of that, that leave all the sweat and blood of the or not if it isn't. and so there's been a lot of fall to that had been sick today. effect to that been swap the popular king among people of pleasant families. not been true. ingle survived for this young philosophically because they only make sure that they clam down on any form of organization. so we checked planes, why they took the decision to spend a delivery of conditions because through the process of delivering, producing people who are getting an idea only is known that when was organized, you do that credit to eat them. let me play, let me play devil's advocate here, and i should point out as well. we did reach out to the authorities in s watson and

invite the government spokesperson on or government official onto the show, but unfortunately we didn't hear back from them. however, let me try and play devil's ads. good a little bit here and present to the government line. they say that the authority say that they simply applying law and order. this is not about suppressing people. this is not about squashing people. this is about establishing law and order. as you can see, they would point out in some of the pictures you've seen looting. they want to prevent the country from descending into chaos. had your sponsor that i was provided for you, the images of what was happening when the people who had anybody in the petition it was i was never violent when people were delivered in positions violence that the government, the delivery of petition and when the people insisted on defining that, been to go and petitions, the police splendid with brutal,

both fighting and shooting. and even at times like live on peaceful protest whose only client was in feet on be about in position. but also i think it is important to speak to the excuse that they used when bending the delivery of these positions, which was this. but of course, in the us to we dictating scheme and hope that not lives on 6, but a party who were having huge for the close friends inside company now. so it's not about people get about it. it is about denying the poor, the opportunity to gather and express their frustration with your team and talking about public appearances by the king men's. he why haven't we seen the can make any public appearance. now make any statement when you know the countries clearly being gripped by some serious term, or i think more than anything if i'm diety,

and it's unwillingness to come and step up and account for the actions of his government. and i think there might be an element of elemental and he's trying to wait for the situation to sit down and fall. i guess this whole operation of law and order to take it school was and i guess in his hopes to, to, to establish some degree of calm before he comes out and says, ok, i am like negotiated whether or not this will arise during the circumstances that is still on the balance historically as luis, you know, i mean pro democracy sentiments in what the need are not something new. you know, it's a sentiment that folks have help decades on end. and the monarchy has been able to write out

a combination of speak and carry mechanism and instances of the rest. there is a tendency by the monarchy to keep quiet until things on order. so it is no surprise to us that the king has kept silent while his generals, while his police officials do the work, call the population down and then when things are low but comma will probably come out and speak out. right, chris, have so we should explain some of the political background to this story as what in the is a monarchy where the king is above the law, has absolute political power, right? this is the environment, the political environment we're talking about. yes. so this goes back to the, the period in which he's 15 year old and swaziland claimed us independence from the united kingdom. it was a protector. and when that independence came, and king a buddha whose between his father, there was a process of kind of nation building the involved

a kind of strong cultural element of separating aside what is kind of typically is with teeny versus south africa and creating a divide of trying to politician against what was then apartheid south africa in creating this very distinct and separate country. and so the king's authority of them absolute monarch has been partly built upon this, this building of a culture and a cultural identity for the country and his place within it. right? so there has been some form of democracy within the controller system, but this is what in the king has, has came to the form of democracy under the tinker system, where you have people up appointed, you have some elections, but as your, as your piece at the beginning said, it's largely a selection process, but it's still under the control of, of the king himself. now, whether have been

a protest or pressures before, including or especially around election times and from international corners around election times, they have forced times a reaction from the king. for example, during the head of the 2013 elections is when he coined this term, monoxide cool. democracy as a way of categorizing, the political and right that let me bring a v c. and under this point that christopher was talking about the degree of, shall we say, a political process. the political parties were banned in 1973. so how do political parties like yours operate? what am i going crazy? it's quite a lot. you know, political parties were banned in 1970 politically. but the pod to that i come from and that i least put demo does not even fall among the bent

as that said, that was taken by the team on put them in 2008 to criminalize, put them away, approved. i had to do that to me and i'm friends and so i've learned to belong to them or to be seen, wedding, anything that is good, i mean signal to them. and they say history to the because for the long as tire, put them all the only portent political weapon in the hands of the democracy of padding people of. so i need to do that when they came to realize that the most effective way of shutting them out of the people of slug then is to pass the separation of terrorism. that effectively bend to demo and leak. right? so avenues are being blocked. let's talk a little bit about economics, menzies, to what extent is economic hardship driving the discontent? some estimates for poverty, it above 60 percent unemployment,

depending on how you measure it at 40 percent. absolutely, absolutely. i think we con discount the hortons are economic factors being a key drive the off the unrest at the moment. we've seen, that's why the states struggle to pay its workers. and that can lead to a whole class of protests that, that occurred. prior to that we see the state has struggled to pay teachers. the state has struggled to deliver services all the while. as he mentioned, the king and his close circle has been living opulent life. so meant that you can help me to call ryan action. i think in the sense, yes, i think there is a nation or at least a conference of demands. you know, previously what we saw from outside was the strike action was relatively disparate . but when the prime minister issue that decree on the 20th of may,

they seem to be coming together golf courses. but at the same time, do i think it's important to been mind that pro democracy sentiments have been simmering and it's working for a while now. and i think that 24th of major korea was to speak be spurred that crick, the size of the white people's intense, and then uh, what, the whole corona virus pandemic, which has exacerbated social economic concerns. why do you need all the while the king and his president or the king? happy living by the state also received various channels of funding. for instance, they have yet to account funding receive from the midst of all this, right? these crash old building off in the public? no doubt. yes. let's bring in my guess is that we just got a few minutes and we've heard opposition figures them lagossi calling for south africa to impose sanctions. is that where the opposition is going?

is it, is it counting on pressure for from regional axes and international axes? now, indeed, we are calling for decisive pressure from regional and international pled calling for a targeted son. she, again, that king enclosed these girls who are responsible for policing. this was because it is true that these uprising is economy issues. the king is through the government taking lot of responsible loan because they realize that they're empty to the core files of the nation. the only way to access to the was through that responsible and the relation alone. yes. was calling for the region. yes, we're calling for the international community. but more than anything i was calling for the criminal charges to be preferred against the king and the government because of all the men that had been committed during these

a lot of people left ideas. and once that doctor said that the international community would be shrugged by the figure of the people who have been tooth randomly by the soldier eddings. she looked and saw the children this protest, right? christopher 90 percent of 14, these employees come from south africa, 70 percent of his exports go to the republic. the country relies, this was he knew, relies on aid and assistance from countries like the united states. how do you read the the mood right now in regional and international capitals towards the 14 meeting is very important question. and when we wrote our report now a years ago we called it was the land, southern africa forgotten crisis for exactly this reason that this has been bubbling along for a long time. and we were trying to gone at some international attention on it. because for exactly to point out the international capital,

this is not high up on the agenda and it was really interesting at the moment. 2 things, one has i'm and jeezy has said, you know, there's, this is a situation that has come out of the fact that the money that has been going into redeeming has not been used to deliver development and citizens in the country are seeing what's going on elsewhere and then not feeling the benefits of development in the country and point to one person, which is the monarchy. now the relationship with africa as always, been very complex. for multiple reasons. per demo has a relationship with consulting. if you sit within the tripartite alliance in south africa, former president zoom, i had his own personal relationship with the king. doctor has long been looking at the country and in 2030 and actually made recommendations to government. this needs to be something to be, to be dealt with,

but i don't think it's been clear with in south africa what they have in terms of diplomatic resources to be able to, to engage. and there's not really clear walker, he says, i suddenly got that on the other. right. i think we just got a minute left. i want to give it to m z and off this final question. we heard at the beginning of the show, the call by the game, see that the protest is one, the monarchy to go christopher's kind of outline for us, what the mood is of regional and international actors. what do you think it's going to end with it? topple the monarchy. i think history warned against having great expectations when events like this occur. and as much as we might be a massive change, it doesn't necessarily mean that it will occur. and we have seen the monarchy adapt itself to varying circumstances. so i would code my enthusiasm, and i would expect it to be some kind of political process that needs the monarchy

intact, somewhat, but perhaps with some great allowances or political activity by the opposition and by civil society at large. alright, it's been a fascinating discussion. i'm sure we could go on a lot longer, but i'm afraid we are out of time. so let's thank our guests for their wonderful contributions in the game. see my kenya mensray and global. and christopher vander and thank you to for watching. you can see the show again, any time by visiting our website al jazeera dot com for further discussion head over to our facebook page. that's facebook dot com forward slash a j inside story. you can also join the conversation on twitter handle. there is at a j in the side story from me, sammy's a, than and the whole inside story team here. thanks for joining us. i

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