The Swazi government faces mass protest action by labour unions, human rights groups and banned political parties over the treatment of a local chief and his followers, who were evicted from their land for a second time by royal police in defiance a court ruling. The government's previous refusal to abide by a Court of Appeal ruling, allowing the chief and his people to return to their homes, resulted in the resignation of the entire bench and sparked a rule-of-law crisis.

Swaziland's High Court judges resumed work on Wednesday, ending a two-year hiatus created by their en masse resignation in protest over the government's refusal to abide by their judgements. Registrar of the high court Shiyumhlaba Dlamini told IRIN the judges' return to work followed an assurance that the government would adhere to court decisions.

Government's unmet commitment to finance the education of AIDS orphans and children from indigent families could lead to the imminent closure of all primary schools in the country, headmasters have warned. "If government fails to pay by 10 November, we would be compelled to close down all schools," said Themba Shabangu, chairman of the Swaziland Head Teachers' Association, in a statement.

A United Nations conference has given Swaziland the green light to export some of its white rhinos and bring in trophy hunters to shoot the animals. The motion was passed by the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species, which is meeting in Bangkok. It follows last week's lifting of a ban on hunting the rarer black rhino in Namibia and South Africa. Swaziland claims money raised from exports of live animals or trophy hunts will be used for rhino conservation.

Chad, Ethiopia, Kenya and Swaziland have ranked last for the way their governments run public affairs in a U.N. survey of 28 African countries that was released Tuesday. The four countries fell short on corruption , political representation, economic management and respect for human rights, said the survey by the U.N.'s Economic Commission for Africa. Cameroon, Angola, Kenya and Nigeria are ranked as the most corrupt of the 28 countries surveyed.