Danish party to support PUDEMO’s struggle for democracy in Swaziland

Representatives of the Danish party, the Red-Green Alliance, met with the leadership and other representatives of the People’s United Democratic Movement (PUDEMO) in November. The Danes met with PUDEMO-president, Mario Masuku, representatives of the trade federation TUCOSWA, and an array of other people from the democratic movement in Swaziland.

“Swaziland has an absurd political system where all power is vested in the king,” says Thomas Eisler. He is part of the Red-Green Alliance’s Swaziland-group who visited Swaziland in November, and has held several high-ranking posts within the party’s administration.

Swedish parliament wants government to recognise Western Sahara

Yesterday [5. December], a oppositional majority in the Swedish parliament voted to recommend that the Swedish government “recognises the Saharawi Arab Democratic Republic (SADR) as soon as possible.”

If Sweden recognizes SADR – Western Sahara’s government in exile – it will be the first country within the European Union to do so. It is still unclear, however, what the intentions of the Swedish government are in this matter.

Sveriges parlament vil anerkende Vestsahara, vil Danmark også?

I dag besluttede et flertal udenom regeringen i det svenske parlament at Sverige, som det første EU-land, ”snarest bør anerkende Saharawi Arab Democratic Republic (SADR)” – det af Marokko besatte Vestsaharas eksilregering. Det er stadigvæk uvist hvordan den svenske regering vil forholde sig til dette.

Afrika Kontakt sendte efterfølgende et brev til udenrigsminister Villy Søvndal, for at spørge ham om dette får ham og regeringen til at overveje at anerkende SADR. Sidste år svarede Søvndal nemlig Afrika Kontakt at en af grundene til, at Danmark har valgt ikke at anerkende SADR, er at ”ingen europæiske lande har valgt at tage dette skridt”.