Swaziland's King Mswati III has ended a five-year sex ban he imposed on the kingdom's teenage girls a year early.
The girls have had to wear large woollen tassels as a sign of their chastity since 2001.
The sex ban was imposed to fight the spread of HIV/Aids. About 40% of the population are HIV positive.
In 2001, the king fined himself a cow for breaking the ban by marrying again, but he could choose another wife at the annual reed dance this weekend.
In the two-day ceremony bare-breasted girls will dance before the monarch.
King Mswati transgressed the ban when he took a 17-year-old girl as his ninth wife just two months after imposing the sex ban in September 2001, sparking unprecedented protests by Swazi women outside the royal palace.
Meanwhile, the health ministry has released new figures which show that 29% of Swazis aged 15-19 are HIV positive.
For pregnant women, the figures were 42%.
There is more on this at BBC News.
via New links
No comments:
Post a Comment