Simangele Mmeme, principal of a rural school in Swaziland, had to close her school early for the year after it ran out of food and water, as a result of the country's financial crisis.

Photo: Erin Conway-Smith

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Last Updated 06 Feb 2012

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King Mswati III's latest seclusion at one of his many lavish palaces came at a time when Swaziland was nearly collapsing from a crippling financial crisis, sparking protests and the biggest-ever challenge to the king's 25-year reign.

As the king returns to public this month, and as the crisis continues, he is facing fresh calls from activists and union leaders to loosen his grip on power.

While Mswati, his 13 wives and sprawling family have remained unscathed by the government's severe budget shortfall, ordinary Swazis from all parts of society are suffering.

There is a shortage of antiretroviral drugs, which is a serious problem as Swaziland has the world's highest HIV infection rates at 25 percent of the adult population.

Hundreds of university students had to quit their studies because government scholarship payments didn't arrive. Elderly people have gone hungry when they couldn't plant their staple crops because old-age pension payments arrived late.

Kholwane Primary, a rural school near the city of Manzini, was forced to close early for the December break because there was no money for clean drinking water, or for lunches for the children who need full stomachs to take their antiretroviral drugs.

By Erin Conway-Smith , GlobalPost (U.S)

A record number of large seizures of elephant tusks represents at least 2,500 dead animals and shows that organized crime - in particular Asian syndicates - is increasingly involved in the illegal ivory trade and the poaching that feeds it, the group said.

Some of the seized tusks came from old stockpiles, the elephants having been killed years ago. It's not clear how many elephants were recently killed in Africa for their tusks, but experts are alarmed.

TRAFFIC's elephant and rhino expert Tom Milliken thinks criminals may have the upper hand in the war to save rare and endangered animals.

"As most large-scale ivory seizures fail to result in any arrests, I fear the criminals are winning," Milliken told The Associated Press.

By Michelle Faul, The Associated Press (U.S.)

MAJETE WILDLIFE RESERVE, Malawi -- "The leopards won't like that!" jokes ranger Fyson Suwedi as his pick-up truck rattles along the bumpy road that leads from the airstrip to Malawi's Majete Wildlife Reserve.

In the back are the two special passengers, transported by plane from South Africa across 1,000 kilometres on a mission to repopulate the Majete.

The leopards - a male and a female - have behaved during the journey to their new home, where they will hopefully reproduce.

Proclaimed in 1955, the Majete reserve suffered extensive poaching which severely depleted its animals' numbers.

But a conservation group took over management after a 2003 deal with Malawi's government. Since then over 2,500 antelopes, elephants, buffalo and rhino have been reintroduced.

This leopard operation's twosome were caught in rural South Africa after their hunting spree wreaked havoc on farmers' ostrich populations.

By Jean Liou, Agence France-Presse (France)