Back in his hotel room, Deng Shiyang inserted the USB drive into his laptop and entered the password. The screen immediately displayed a pile of information.
Swaziland is located in Southern Africa, covering an area of 17,000 square kilometers. It borders Mozambique to the east and is surrounded by South Africa on the other three sides, making it a typical landlocked country.
This country has a population of 1.13 million, but according to World Health Organization statistics, over 40% of the population is infected with HIV, making it the country with the highest HIV infection rate in the world. The average life expectancy is less than 32 years, and only one in four people lives past 40.
Before the coup, the Kingdom of Swaziland was one of the last remaining absolute monarchies on Earth. It was the only country in Southern Africa where political parties were banned. The parliament was elected through traditional African tribal elections and was merely advisory, with no legislative power. All power was concentrated in the hands of the king.
Although Swazi citizens and unions had long pursued democracy, organizing many large-scale protests and strikes, they never achieved success and were instead met with violent suppression by the government. After the "9/11 attacks," the king used "anti-terrorism" as an excuse to begin a large-scale crackdown on civil organizations. In May 2002, the parliament passed the "Domestic Security Act," which banned all activities opposing the royal family and the government.
The autocratic system led to a single-sector economy. Swaziland's economy mainly relied on manufacturing, with the largest revenue coming from agricultural products and textile exports. In the late 1980s, the economy developed rapidly but began to decline in the 1990s. In the 21st century, the economy deteriorated further due to the impact of AIDS and the international environment. By 2007, the unemployment rate had soared to 40%, with over 70% of the population living below the poverty line.
To earn foreign exchange, the government forced farmers to grow cash crops such as sugarcane and cotton. As a result, despite having 80% of the population engaged in agriculture, one-fourth of the Swazi people faced famine and had to rely on foreign food aid to survive.
Meanwhile, King Mswati III ranked as the 15th wealthiest monarch globally, with assets of $200 million. He lived a lavish life in the royal palace with his 14 wives. Last year, he spent millions of dollars from the treasury to hold an extravagant party to celebrate his 40th birthday, including purchasing 20 luxury cars for guests.
The king's extravagance sparked public outrage and serious social security issues. Swaziland began implementing martial law nationwide and deployed troops to major cities to maintain order. At the end of last year, while King Mswati III was away on vacation, Colonel Antoine Ndofa, the commander of the army, launched a coup and overthrew the royal family. The "Revolutionary Command Committee" led by Ndofa quickly took over, and the new government renamed the country the Republic of Swaziland, with Ndofa elected as the first president.
Like most military governments, the coup was merely a prelude to another dictator coming to power. Coming from a family related to the royal family and rising to the position of army commander through connections, Ndofa was clearly not a competent ruler. Upon taking power, he immediately declared an indefinite state of emergency, violently suppressed the democratic movement, and began a regime of high-pressure control. The promises made at the founding of the country were not fulfilled at all.
The new government's policies displeased Western countries, and nations such as the U.S. and the U.K. suspended economic aid citing human rights issues. The Ndofa regime then severed diplomatic ties with over 30 Western countries led by the United States and strictly limited all foreign exchanges. The newly established Republic of Swaziland was soon isolated by the international community.
After meeting with Harrowby, Deng Shiyang spent the following days reading and organizing the documents at the hotel. In his spare time, he enjoyed the nearby restaurants and leisure facilities like a tourist visiting Hong Kong.
Five days passed quickly. On the sixth day at noon, the front desk called, saying there was a package for him.
This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.
He briefly responded, instructing the package to be sent to his room. Shortly afterward, there was a knock on the door, and a hotel staff member accompanied a courier dressed in a "FedEx" uniform to the door.
The signing process was quick. After tipping the two people, he opened the parcel, taking out a British National (Overseas) passport, a credit card, and a manila envelope.
Opening the passport, a familiar face appeared. The passport holder's name was Jason Du, 28 years old, a Hong Kong resident. The person in the photo bore an 80% resemblance to him, but the expression was slightly dull. His black short hair was neatly combed back with hair wax, and he wore black-framed glasses on his nose, giving him a stereotypical look, fitting the image of an ordinary office worker.
The credit card was a VISA international card issued by HSBC Hong Kong, with a small adhesive sticker on the back indicating the card's password.
He opened the envelope and placed the contents on the table. Inside was an invitation from the Swazi government and several documents issued by a company called "Ruoyuan International," confirming that Jason Du was an employee of the company, invited to conduct a business inspection.
After carefully reviewing all the documents, he opened his laptop and entered "Hong Kong" and "Ruoyuan International" into Google. It didn't take long for information about the company to appear on the screen.
"Ruoyuan International" is a company engaged in the trading of metals and minerals, with a market value of less than HKD 400 million. The company initially made its name in the copper mining industry in Chile, experiencing a period of prosperity in the 1970s and 1980s before being listed in 1996. However, due to poor management in recent years, the company's financial situation deteriorated rapidly, with bad performance and massive debts leading to frequent stock price lows. Last year, it was once suspended by the Securities and Futures Commission.
He frowned slightly, then logged onto the United States Geological Survey website, entered the keywords "mineral" and "Swaziland," and found a report titled "The Mineral Industry of Swaziland." He read the entire report and discovered that this small country surprisingly had abundant mineral resources, including asbestos, clay, coal, tin, as well as small amounts of gold, diamonds, and mica. However, due to the previous government's lack of open mining rights and the country's shortage of technology and equipment, mining was minimal.
After reading the report, he rested his chin on his hand, deep in thought.
Although Harrowby claimed that the employer was the deposed former king, he was not naive enough to fully believe that story.
In the 1990s, several private military companies like EO and SI intervened in the civil wars in Sierra Leone and Angola. Although their official employers were the governments of those countries, the real paymasters were multinational corporations exploiting natural resources.
For example, in the 1995 Sierra Leone civil war, a company named "Branch Energy" provided credit guarantees to cover the economically struggling Sierra Leone government's payroll. Whenever mercenaries recaptured a diamond mine from the RUF, Branch Energy would receive 60% of the mining rights. During the Angolan civil war, the financial backers of "MPLA" employing EO to fight against "UNITA" were the Canadian "Heritage Oil" company and the South African De Beers Group.
Looking back at history, Western involvement in African power struggles has mainly been driven by the desire to increase political influence and seize resources. If commercial entities are involved, their motives are even more self-evident.
Thus, he made a bold assumption: If a resource-rich country falls into turmoil and the ousted former dictator is eager to restore his regime but finds himself lacking the funds to launch a coup, the simplest and most effective solution would be to trade mining rights for financial support.
As his thoughts became clearer, the mastermind behind the scenes gradually emerged. If his hypothesis was correct, he could almost be certain that the Bowman family had something to do with this. In addition to their involvement in oil and gas extraction, the companies controlled by this family also included the well-known mining company Rio Tinto Group.
Annotations:
British National (Overseas): Abbreviated as BN(O), a type of British nationality. Holders of this nationality are Commonwealth citizens but not British citizens.
RUF (Revolutionary United Front): A rebel group in Sierra Leone, founded in 1991. It became a political party after the civil war ended in 2002 and was disbanded in 2007. In February 2009, three of its leaders were convicted of war crimes and crimes against humanity.
MPLA: Popular Movement for the Liberation of Angola, the largest political party in Angola, which has been in power since the country's independence from Portugal.
UNITA: National Union for the Total Independence of Angola, the second-largest political party in Angola. During the Angolan War of Independence, it fought alongside MPLA, but after independence, the two parties fell out, leading to the civil war.
De Beers Group: The world's largest diamond company, headquartered in Johannesburg, South Africa. The company controls over 40% of global diamond mining and trade.
Rio Tinto Group: A multinational mining and resources group founded in 1873, headquartered in London, UK, and Melbourne, Australia. The company operates in coal, iron, copper, gold, diamonds, aluminum, energy, and other businesses.