Trucks lined up at the Oshoek border post on the South African side with Eswatini following reports of a deadly crackdown on pro-democracy protests. Dissent has long been stifled in Africa's last absolute monarchy, a small landlocked state previously known as Swaziland. But demonstrations escalated radically this week as protesters defied a dusk-to-dawn curfew to take to the streets, looting and torching buildings linked to King Mswati III -- and demanding immediate political reform. The government in the southern African kingdom of 1.3 million people has since deployed the military to quell the protests, which it blames on "terrorists". IMAGES