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Teenaged girls in Swaziland reacted with anger at the five-year ban on their sex lives this week, complaining that their boyfriends "won't wait". The ban was introduced two weeks ago as a measure to curb spread of HIV/AIDS in the kingdom.
Lungile Ndlovu, the traditional head of maidens' affairs, announced a five-year ban on sex after King Mswati re-introduced the "umchwasho" chastity rite two weeks ago. She said that the upholding of this tradition would be policed by traditional chiefs who presided over much of Swazi society.
"This is going to deprive us of getting married, because our lovers won't wait for us for five years," 16-year-old Michelle Martyn from Mbabane was quoted as saying in an interview with the Johannesburg based 'Sunday Independent' newspaper. Also interviewed was Lungile Dlamini, 17, who was reported as saying that it was unfair of the king, who had seven wives and a fiancée, to expect them to observe the chastity rite while his 14-year-old daughter went to school in Britain, out of reach of Swazi law.
Swaziland Action Against Abuse (SAAA), an NGO which counsels rape and incest victims, welcomed the return to traditional values, saying it would help curb the spread of HIV/AIDS, which is estimated to have killed 50,000 Swazis.
Reaction from a Swazi woman about the ban: http://www.hivnet.ch:8000/topics/gender-aids/viewR?896
This article was produced by IRIN News while it was part of the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs. Please send queries on copyright or liability to the UN. For more information: https://shop.un.org/rights-permissions