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dam-l Lesotho Coup in offing/LS
>From the BBC web site:
Wednesday, September 16, 1998 Published at 15:20 GMT 16:20 UK
World: Africa
Lesotho coup 'in the offing'
A coup is brewing in the tiny African kingdom of Lesotho, the
country's foreign minister has warned after protesters
blockaded
government buildings.
Tom Thabane said a coup was ''in the offing'' as
demonstrators barred
Prime Minister Pakalitha Mosisili, cabinet ministers and
officials from
their offices.
The protestors are angry at delays in releasing the
results of an inquiry
into allegations that the May poll was rigged to allow the
ruling
Lesotho Congress for Democracy to win 79 out of 80 seats.
Mr Thabane said: "I have seen coups in this country before
so I know
what I am talking about. A coup is in the offing.
"I went to my office this morning, but I had to drive back
because I
could have been killed.''
Protestors also locked the gates of parliament and warned
anyone
tampering with the lock they did so at their peril, the
South African
Press Association said.
They then went from door to door in government buildings and
commercial offices, ordering civil servants and staff to
leave.
Demonstrators also forced the Lesotho Bank to close its doors.
Government ''has lost control''
A Western diplomat in Maseru said the government had lost
control of
the situation.
"Things have gone so far that something must happen in the
next 48
hours,'' he added.
"If coup means change of government by unconstitutional means
then that is not here yet, but things are so serious that
severe
decisions have to be taken.''
The diplomat said the government did not have adequate control
over the army to use it to regain control and could be
forced to
resign.
The election report was compiled by electoral experts from
Botswana, South Africa and Zimbabwe after hundreds of
protesters
began a round-the-clock vigil at King Letsie's palace in
Maseru on 4
August.
The team, led by South African Constitutional Court judge Pius
Langa, completed its two-week probe at the beginning of
September.
But release of the report has been repeatedly delayed.
Fraud report should be released this week
The latest protests follow an army mutiny last week when junior
officers took senior officers prisoner.
The officers were released in an
agreement brokered by South
African Defence Minister Joe
Modise.
During the weekend hundreds of
anti-government protesters gathered
outside the royal palace to call for
the publication of the report.
So far five people have been killed
at the palace in a number of
shooting incidents.
In one case a policeman was shot
dead when a gun battle erupted
between soldiers guarding the
palace and police who had opened
fire on protesters.
Mr Thabane said he had informed the South African government of
the situation in Lesotho and had been told that the report
should be
released this week.
Lesotho, with a population of two million people, is one
of the world's
poorest countries and has been wracked by coups and
insurrections
since it emerged from military rule in 1993.
end
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Lori Pottinger, Director, Southern Africa Program,
and Editor, World Rivers Review
International Rivers Network
1847 Berkeley Way, Berkeley, California 94703, USA
Tel. (510) 848 1155 Fax (510) 848 1008
http://www.irn.org
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