Virgins dance for king in Swaziland

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Swazi Dancers

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LUDZIDZINI ROYAL VILLAGE, Swaziland: More than 50,000 bare-breasted virgins vied to become the King of Swaziland's 13th wife yesterday in a ceremony which critics say ill befits a country with the world's highest HIV/Aids rate.

King Mswati III, sub-Saharan Africa's last absolute monarch, arrived dressed in a leopard-skin loincloth to watch the Reed Dance ceremony, which he has used since 1999 to pluck new brides from the girls dressed in little more than beaded mini-skirts.