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dam-l Lesotho without gov't/LS
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Deadlock in Lesotho as ruling party refuses to attend talks
September 21, 1998
By Candi Ratabane Ramainoane
Maseru - Lesotho's ruling Congress for Democracy (LCD) refused yesterday to
attend all-party talks aimed at ending the
country's political crisis, citing lack of security for its delegates.
The Southern African Development Community (SADC) delegation, under the
leadership of SA Safety and Security Minister
Sydney Mufamadi, had to hold two separate meetings, much to the annoyance
of the opposition alliance. "How can the people
who claim to be government use lack of
security as an excuse not to attend such an important meeting with the
opposition under the chairmanship of a credible,
regional body?" the alliance asked.
The mediators first met the LCD inside Prime Minister Pakalitha Mosisili's
official residence. They then met the opposition at
the United Nations House before briefing King Letsie III at the Royal Palace.
Before leaving for the palace Mufamadi promised to return, hopefully with
the LCD delegation, to the UN House. However, he
phoned the opposition and called off another planned meeting, and proposed
that a subsequent meeting be held today.
The failure of yesterday's talks has brought more uncertainty to Lesotho,
which since Wednesday last week has been virtually
without a government. All government business was brought to a standstill
by the opposition which encouraged public servants
to stay away from work indefinitely.
Sapa reports that yesterday's events followed the presentation last
Thursday by Mufamadi of the Langa commission report on
irregularities in Lesotho's May elections. The report said the elections
were flawed but there were insufficient grounds to annul
them.
On Friday the government said it would not step down and proposed that the
opposition accept defeat.
The opposition is demanding that the government step down and a government
of national unity be formed to prepare for new
elections.
The security situation in Lesotho has been unstable over the past two
months since opposition parties petitioned the king to
dissolve the government because they believed it had been elected fraudulently.
The military situation has been volatile since last week when the Lesotho
Defence Force commander, Lt-Gen Makhula
Mosakeng, resigned and dismissed 26 senior army officers, apparently under
duress. The crisis in the army has not yet been
resolved and Mosakeng and the dismissed officers have reportedly fled to SA.
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