Swaziland Labor Unions Call Off Protests After Clampdown

Labor unions in Swaziland, sub-Saharan Africa’s last absolute monarchy, vowed to keep pressure on the government to move to a democratic system after a police crackdown forced them to call off a third day of demonstrations.

The unions will call for targeted sanctions against the southern African nation’s leaders and try to persuade other countries to help bring change, Vincent Ncongwane, general secretary of the Swaziland Federation of Labour, told reporters today in Mbabane, the capital. The ruling African National Congress in neighboring country South Africa urged in an e-mailed statement for political parties to be unbanned and criticized the violence Swaziland’s security forces meted out on peaceful protesters.