Swaziland's harvest yields are expected to get steadily worse because poor land management is leading to soil degradation, a World Food Programme crops survey has warned.

Loyalty to the monarchy was rewarded Friday with the announcement of 10 palace-appointed MPs to complement 55 MPs popularly elected to represent the Swazi people in the next House of Assembly.

An outbreak of measles this month in all four of Swaziland's regions has health organisations scrambling to immunise children in populous urban townships.

In last week's parliamentary elections, the number of women legislators increased by 150 percent in a country where women candidates had complained that it is difficult for them to be taken seriously as representatives or as authority figures because of their gender.

A low-key parliamentary election in Swaziland at the weekend yielded a new crop of MPs that includes the head of a banned opposition political party and a sharp increase in the number of women legislators.

A groundbreaking study by the Ministry of Education on the effect of child abuse paints a disturbing portrait of the state of the Swazi child today, suggesting that up to 38 percent of children might be abuse survivors.

Non-government organisations seeking to have their issues better understood by potential lawmakers instructed candidates in the just-conducted parliamentary elections about social welfare and health matters the members of parliament (MPs) would have to know about once in office. "The time for an education campaign is now, before the MP enters office,” said Doo Aphane, national director for the Swaziland chapter of Women in Law in Southern Africa.

The Swaziland branch of Women in Law in Southern Africa is concerned that guarantees of women's rights that were announced in the draft constitution, soon to be ratified by King Mswati, are not as secure as first thought. “When the draft constitution came out, there were many parts that we greeted with enthusiasm, because they called for equality for women. But upon further reflection, it is apparent that all rights, whether granted to women or anyone else in the form of human rights, may not be absolute,” said Manzini attorney Fikile Mthembu.

Some schools in Swaziland are filling "many of the gaps" left in the country by the "double whammy" of HIV/AIDS and famine by feeding AIDS orphans and teaching them how to farm. Swazi Prime Minister Sibusiso Dlamini in January said that the country's official HIV prevalence had reached 38.6%, up from 34.2% in January 2002.

Mounting grassroots concern over the imposition of King Mswati's constitution became increasingly evident this week as women's groups launched education campaigns, and was borne out in submissions by ordinary Swazis to the palace-appointed Constitutional Drafting Committee (CDC).

Polling results from the weekend's parliamentary primary elections released on Tuesday show Swazi voters want change, and are demonstrating a new independence. Voters retired several cabinet ministers appointed by King Mswati III, as well as most incumbent members of parliament.

A three-day "Aids Indaba", or traditional Swazi meeting, concluded at the weekend with the enlistment of church leaders in the national campaign to combat the disease by tapping into their influence. "It is good that the church leaders are getting involved, and we support the training of pastors in AIDS awareness," said Derrick Von Wissel, director of the government's National Emergency Response Committee on HIV/AIDS.

Swaziland’s largest minority group by 2010 will be children under 15 who will have lost both their parents to Aids. “We are turning into a country of orphans. No one is really prepared for the scale of the social, economic and even political challenges this will bring,” said Charles Mngomezulu, a social welfare worker in the central Manzini region.

Swaziland's draft constitution was initially greeted with relief by pro-democracy groups who had feared it would be far more draconian. But six weeks on, banned political parties have begun to condemn the document for its ambiguous language regarding the legalisation of political groups. "We will only be interested in a constitution that would be inclusive of the entire people of Swaziland, not just a few. So we reject this draft constitution with contempt," the People's United Democratic Movement (PUDEMO) said in a statement last week.

This report looks at the gendered impact of HIV/Aids in Swaziland, and advocates the promotion of shared responsibilities for the prevention and care and to address the power relations and inequalities between men and women.

A spirit of compromise is at work in Swaziland between the royal government and pro-democracy forces agitating for political reform, as both parties return to the old Swazi values of dialogue and consensus.

Swaziland may be entering a new and violent political phase with the proclamation at the weekend of a manifesto by the Swaziland Youth Congress, promising an armed response to alleged political repression by King Mswati's government. "We urge our members to take up arms against government," a Swaziland Youth Congress pamphlet was quoted as saying by the Times of Swaziland.

Swaziland's labour organisations have responded to King Mswati III's draft constitution which ensures the continuity of royal rule by calling for two national strikes over the next two months.

The need to protect and promote children is the shared agenda of the Swaziland government and the UN children's Fund (UNICEF) that has led to a community-based programme whose success is rooted in Swazi culture.

A recent manifesto by PUDEMO, the main opposition party in Swaziland, marks a new phase in opposition politics, setting out detailed policies on issues such as poverty and HIV/AIDS. But despite a growing yearning for freedom and a rise in support of democratic forces, all opposition movements are forced to operate illegally. Visit Action for Southern Africa's web site for an interview with Mario Masuku, leader of PUDEMO.