SOLDIERS kidnapped the two young children of a leading communist in Swaziland on Sunday, with activists accusing the regime of King Mswati III of war crimes.

Members of the armed forces stormed the home of Ayanda Ndwandwe in Lubombo region and abducted his children, aged three and five years old.

“The act of kidnapping children is a war crime which must be punished, and Mswati’s army will account for it,” Communist Party of Swaziland (CPS) general secretary Thokozane Kenneth Kunene said.

The children were released today, the party reported.

The army claimed that it had to take the five-year-old to help soldiers identify his father in the sports ground where the CPS was launching its community games.

“The idea was that the five-year-old would run to his father once he saw him and the soldiers would thereby identify him.

“They wanted to use the children in their mission to arrest our comrade,” Mr Kunene said.

Security forces moved against a rally organised by the CPS in the city of Lubulini on Saturday night.

Mr Ndwandwe, the organiser of the event, has been frequently targeted by the Mswati government, with the party saying he had been under heavy surveillance for months.

His children were taken hostage after police were unable to find him during the raid on his home on Sunday afternoon, with more than 40 soldiers arriving on the scene in four armoured vehicles.

Many communists have gone into hiding to escape the security services, who are attempting to crush the growing movement for democracy in the African nation.

Since last summer protests have swept the country calling for the unbanning of political parties and other reforms to the system.

The Mswati regime has responded by waging a brutal crackdown: scores have been killed and hundreds injured after the security forces were issued with “shoot to kill” orders to crush dissent.

King Mswati III has ruled since 1986 and is known as Africa’s last absolutist monarch.

Calls for him to stand down are now growing, with mass mobilisations against his rule breaking out across the country.

Mr Kunene said the party “is monitoring the situation and calls for solidarity, including international condemnation of the terror engulfing our country as the Mswati dictatorship opts for lethal force to fight democracy campaigns in the country.”