Lesotho Leaders Hold Emergency Talks After Army Tries Coup

By Mathabiso Ralengau  

Photographer: Stan Honda-Pool/Getty Images

Thomas Thabane, Prime Minister of Lesotho.

Lesotho’s political leaders were summoned by South African President Jacob Zuma for emergency talks after the military in the landlocked kingdom carried out an attempted coup.
Deputy Premier Mothetjoa Metsing left Lesotho yesterday for talks with Prime Minister Thomas Thabane and Zuma, Foreign Affairs Minister Mohlabi Tsekoa told reporters in the capital, Maseru. Zuma is head of the Southern African Development Community’s defense, politics and security council. The talks, which began late yesterday, were attended by the foreign ministers of Namibia and Zimbabwe, said Nelson Kgwete, a spokesman for South Africa’s Department of International Relations and Cooperation.
“This morning President Zuma is
meeting Prime Minister Thabane in Pretoria about developments in Lesotho,” Kgwete said by phone. He said he was unaware whether Zuma would meet Metsing.
Maseru, the capital, was calm today and there was no sign of uniformed police officers or soldiers on the streets.
Thabane fled Lesotho on Aug. 30, saying the army tried to overthrow him. The military claimed it disarmed police officers who threatened to destabilize the nation. Lesotho has been run by a three-party coalition government since elections two years ago. In June, Thabane suspended parliament until February, a move other coalition partners said they didn’t support.
Metsing said the army’s seizure of the police headquarters was a misunderstanding between the two institutions and not a coup.

‘Unusual’ Movements

Major Ntlele Ntoi, a public affairs officer for the Lesotho Defence Force, told reporters in Maseru yesterday it had seized an assortment of weapons from the police, including AK-47 rifles. He said information from army intelligence sources indicated the weapons would be used to equip individuals, who would use them to shoot at protesters during planned demonstrations by the Lesotho Congress for Democracy, which is led by Metsing.
Thabane fled Maseru with the help of South Africa’s special forces, the Johannesburg-based Sunday Times reported yesterday, citing Thabo Thakalekoala, the prime minister’s spokesman.
“South Africa’s armed forces played no role in developments in Lesotho whatsoever,” Kgwete said.

Army Commander

The newly appointed commander of the Lesotho Defence Force, Lieutenant-General Maaparankoe Mahao, fled to South Africa after his home was attacked by soldiers, he said today on People’s Choice Radio. Mahao said he was still in charge of the armed forces.
Lieutenant-General Tlali Kamoli, who was removed by Thabane as the defense force commander on Aug. 29, remains in charge of the army, Ntoi said on Aug. 30.
Zuma traveled to Lesotho in July to ease the friction after his government reported “unusual” troop movements there. South Africa and its ruling party, the African National Congress, have condemned the attempted coup.
Lesotho, which has a population of about two million, supplies water to South Africa’s industrial hub and is an enclave within its bigger neighbor. The kingdom earns foreign exchange from tourism and exports of mohair and supplies labor to South African mines.
A former British protectorate, which won its independence in 1966, Lesotho has previously suffered military coups. South Africa’s apartheid government backed an army takeover in 1986, before a counter coup in 1991 enabled elections to be held in 1993.
In 1998, South Africa dispatched more than 600 troops to Lesotho as part of a regional effort to quell a mutiny by junior army officers. More than 60 people were killed, including South African soldiers.