The king of the impoverished southern African nation of Swaziland,swheresabout 250,000 people need urgent food aid, has sparked outrage by buying a 35 million pound private jet.

　　　Prime Minister Sibusiso Dlamini told parliament this week a 20 million emalangeni (1.25 million pound) down payment for the luxury plane was taken from development funds for projects aimed at making Swaziland economically self-sufficient.

　　　Aid agencies say up to 13 million people in Swaziland, Lesotho, Mozambique, Malawi, Zimbabwe and Zambia face a looming famine because of drought and government mismanagement.

　　　The luxury Global Express jet, made by Canada''s Bombardier, is worth about a quarter of the landlocked country''s national budget of 2.4 billion emalangeni (235 million pounds).

　　　The prime minister said the September 11 hijacked airliner attacks in the United States made it imperative that King Mswati find a more secure way to travel than commercial aircraft.