Mswati III

King

Date of Birth: 19/04/1968
Place of Birth: Manzini

Of Taiwan's four African allies, the staunchest has been Swaziland. At independence from Britain in 1968, King Sobhuza II declared allegiance to Taipei. Despite China's rise in the intervening decades, the kingdom has never wavered. Sobhuza II's son and successor, Mswati III, was crowned in 1986 at the age of 18 and has followed the same path. He regularly speaks up for Taiwan at the annual UN General Assembly meetings.

Born in 1968, Mswati was educated at the exclusive Sherborne School in Britain. Known for his extravagant lifestyle and 13 wives, the king has visited Taiwan twelve times since he took power. On the most recent visit, from 7 July to 3 August 2010, he was accompanied by a coterie of ministers: Foreign Affairs, Economic Planning, Commerce, Tourism and Information Technology. The delegation signed deals with Chunghwa Telecom and CECI Engineering Consultants for mobile telephony and construction services.

Shortly after the king's return, Justice Minister Ndumiso Mamba resigned after allegedly having an affair with the monarch's twelfth wife. With such goings-on, South Korean evangelical churches find the country fertile soil for their spiritual teachings. The Africa Future Foundation, a Seoul non-governmental organisation with church links, is building the Swaziland Christian University Medical School, long-delayed but now set to open in 2013.

The king tolerantly accepts these gifts but is unlikely to become a convert himself. Nor is he as generous with oppositionists or journalists who criticise his expenditures, his government's mismanagement of the economy and its failure to effectively address the world's highest HIV infection rate.