Tuesday, June 25, 2002

A story released today by Reuters reports that women in Swaziland's royal capital will barred from wearing trousers after a top official warned them yesterday that the garments would be torn off by soldiers.

"If any of us dare wear pants the soldiers will strip us naked," said Lobamba resident Mary Dlamini, 22, after listening to head man Jim Gama address local people at a meeting.

In the small African kingdom's administrative capital Mbabane, one Lobamba resident quoted Gama as saying: "Soldiers from the Army will patrol for offenders.

"They have been instructed to strip the trousers from women in pants, and tear them to pieces."

Jim Gama, senior official in the royal household at Lobamba of King Mswati, said trousers were disrespectful to Swaziland's social traditions - but he acknowledged that younger princesses in the royal family were among the worst culprits.

Human rights activists have accused Swaziland's authorities of oppressing women. Last year, officials tried to ban sex for unmarried girls and revive other traditional rules on chastity, but dropped their plans after an international outcry.

"The dictates about what women can and cannot wear is medieval but unfortunately reflects the fact that women are legal minors in Swaziland," said Doo Apane, a lawyer with the Swaziland branch of Women in Law in Southern Africa.