Swaziland has threatened pro-democracy activists with torture as tensions in sub-Saharan Africa's last absolute monarchy continue to grow.
The warning that sipakatane - beating people's feet with spikes - could be used against protesters was condemned by trade unions in the country after a week in which 50 protesters were arrested and several foreigners treated roughly and deported.
Sipakatane, also known as bastinado, involves using metal or wooden spikes to beat someone's bare feet repeatedly, leaving them bleeding and potentially unable to walk.
Barnabas Dlamini, the Swaziland prime minister, was quoted in state media yesterday as saying the government would consider using it to crush dissent.
Returning from the inauguration of the Rwandan president, Paul Kagame, Dlamini added that there were lessons to learn from that country on how to deal with "meddling" from abroad. "Each person should mind the politics of his own country and not come here to meddle in our affairs, especially if that country has a lot of its own problems," he told the Times of Swaziland newspaper.
The paper reported: "Dlamini said every country or community had its own dissidents and it was up to government to deal with the noisy minorities, whom he said he wished would behave in a grown-up manner and stop behaving like children".
Trade unions described the threat to use the form of torture as "a declaration of war" and demanded it be withdrawn.
The Guardian
