AFRICANEWS

Swaziland

African kingdom confronts anthrax scare

Security

Who would want to harm little Swaziland, one resident asks. More significant is the question of what would Swaziland do if it became the target of bio-terrorism. A conference met recently to discuss this very point, with scary results.

So ill-prepared for 21st century bio-terrorism are the health and security agencies of the smallest of Africa’s contiguous nations that government officials hope recent reports of the presence of anthrax remain what thus far they have proved to be: mischievous hoaxes.

"Why would any terrorist want to harm little Swaziland?" frets Veli Ndimzandze, a nurse at Raleigh Fitkin Memorial Hospital that serves the central commercial town of Manzini. Her exasperated tone is almost a plea to the shadowy villains of bio-terrorism to stay away, because she feels there is nothing Swaziland can do to protect itself.

The nurse is not alone with her insecurity. Representatives of Swaziland security forces on hand for an emergency conference of government and civilian groups at the University of Swaziland in late October virtually conceded that the nation is helpless in the face of a bio-terrorism attack. There are no medicines available to counter bacterial infections. There is no money to purchase gas masks in case of gas or germ terrorist attacks.

Conference participants pondered the grim possibility that if Swaziland were targeted, it would be by terrorists whose agendas would likely have nothing to do with the attacks on the United States: perhaps someone with a grudge against the country, or a psychopath who learned how a deadly poison may be sent through the mail with fatal results.

Whoever is sending white powder in envelopes to various locations within Swaziland has also learned the lesson that a hoax alone can generate maximum results with almost no effort. Buildings in Mbabane have been evacuated, and scores of people have been tested at medical facilities when letters containing white powdery substances were received at the Swaziland Water Services Corporation, an attorney’s office, and at a private business. The envelope that was sent to the water service provider was postmarked South Africa. Police authorities have not revealed the origin of the other letters.

In each instance, police were called to dispose of the suspicious envelopes and their powdery contents. The police took these to the Mbabane government hospital, where Senior Medical Officer Dr. Ezeogu Austen conducted tests that determined the "anthrax" was talcum powder in one case, and confectioner’s sugar in another instance.

"Fortunately, the powder tested negative for anthrax," said Austen. "However, this shows we have to be on the lookout. We cannot afford to take chances."

But in impoverished Swaziland, a lack of resources means many risks are taken that would be deemed intolerable in the developed world. Police officers who collected the suspicious envelopes did so in their regular clothes. The country has never seen a biohazard suit. "We didn’t even have rubber gloves to protect ourselves," said one of the officers.

An official with the Swaziland Post and Telecommunications Corporation says the postal agency has no facilities for screening mail, or any security arrangements whatsoever, "other than locking the post office at night.

"We wouldn’t even know how to start addressing the problem of poisoned mail," he admits.

Fortunately, all of Swaziland’s mail comes through neighbouring South Africa, where it arrives at a regional postal facility in Johannesburg from overseas senders. South Africa’s High Commissioner to Swaziland, Walter Seale, assured Swazis that the South African postal service was taking steps to detect anthrax in mail processed in that country.

University of Swaziland’s Pro Vice Chancellor, Professor Cisco Magagula, convened an emergency conference this week in wake of the anthrax hoaxes in the capital and continuous news coverage of anthrax-related deaths in the United States. South Africa has also seen a number of anthrax hoaxes during the past two weeks. Medical authorities used the conference to educate the press, public, and law enforcement officials about the disease, how it is contracted, and how it is cured. But on the subject of prevention, nothing was submitted.

"Because of the primitive state of our public health facilities, we are particularly vulnerable to an outbreak of a disease like anthrax," says Dr. Joseph Kunene, a Manzini physician.

In letters published in local newspapers, postal workers are complaining that they have been given no warning about anthrax, even though they may be on the front line if an outbreak occurs.

Swaziland’s lack of preparedness typifies the vulnerability of a developing world country to bio-terrorism, participants at the university conference agreed. It is doubtful that the nation will be targeted by organisations sophisticated enough to manufacture the virus, because Swaziland has no antagonistic relations with any nation and is probably unknown to terrorist organisations who are at war with Western opponents.

But there is always the possibility that some rogue element with a grudge against the kingdom might have access to anthrax, and be inspired by real incidents of the disease’s dissemination in the U.S. Participants at the university conference also worried about a defenceless nation such as Swaziland being used for bio-terrorism experiments.

"They could shoot some anthrax at us just to see how we die," said one speaker.

Such anxiety shows the levels of fear that defencelessness can inspire, says psychiatrist Rebecca Madlope of the Manzini Psychiatric Centre. The less Swazis are able to defend themselves, the more susceptible they are to rumour and panic, she says.

Given the small nation’s inoffensiveness, it may seem strange that worries about bio-terrorism should arise. Perhaps such anxiety is a spillover from the global concern so prominently reported in the media. But there is little evidence that a basis for fears of attacks exist in a country whose army, only 28 years old, has never been in conflict and where political turmoil is relatively mild compared to other nations in the sub-continent.

Swaziland has a small Muslim community of about 5,000 people. Shortly after the attacks on the World Trade Centre in New York, one Muslim cleric at the Swaziland Islamic Centre in Ezulwini cautioned America against going to war against Islam, and made some biting criticisms against U.S. foreign policy. But Americans are few in Swaziland, and there is no tension between Muslims and Swazis or the people of British and South African heritage who make up the white population.

"Since September 11, there has not been one incident of harassment of a Muslim in Swaziland," says Mohamed Rashid Mohamed, president of the Manzini Islamic Centre. "Not even name calling."

But the good will and peacefulness of Swaziland has been shattered in global anxiety unleashed by the War on Terrorism. Thus far, only anthrax hoaxes have resulted. But these have shown the nation’s vulnerability, and this only adds to the Swazis’ insecurity in a scary new world.

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