BBC News Online: World: Africa

Sex-ban Swazi king pays fine

King Mswati III faced protests outside his palace

The King of Swaziland, bowing to pressure from angry young women, has fined himself a cow for violating a chastity vow he imposed on the rest of the country.

In a very unusual demonstration, 300 young Swazi women gathered outside the royal palace and symbolically laid down their ceremonial tassels, designed as chastity belts to warn off men.

They were showing how angry they were that King Mswati III had broken his own rules.

In an attempt to fight the massive problem of Aids in Swaziland, the King had asked Swazis to invoke a traditional chastity rite requiring virgins to abstain from sex for five years.

But not long after this he announced he was to marry a 17-year-old girl. Resentment among Swazi women grew when they learned that his fiancée was living at the royal palace.

Any man who breaks the cultural ban is fined an animal, such as a cow, or will be liable to pay about $160.

Villagers appeased

By way of apology, the King donated a cow to a village where it was barbecued and eaten.

The villagers were apparently appeased.

A staggering one-third of the population in Swaziland is infected with the HIV virus.

So far Aids is estimated to have killed 50,000 of Swaziland's one million people.