[Date Prev][Date Next][Thread Prev][Thread Next][Date Index][Thread Index]
dam-l SA troops in Lesotho/LS
>From today's BBC web page:
Tuesday, September 22, 1998 Published at 11:45 GMT 12:45 UK
World: Africa
Lesotho fighting intensifies
Troops sent in after weeks of unrest
Heavy fighting has broken out in the
capital of
Lesotho after South Africa sent troops
into the
kingdom on what they said was a mission to
restore order.
Five South African soldiers have been killed,
the first to die in active service since
apartheid
ended.
Another 11 Lesotho soldiers have been wounded in the clashes.
The South African troops had little
trouble in
dispersing opposition protesters in the
capital,
Maseru.
But heavily-armed sections of the Lesotho
Defence Force, which sided with opposition, have been
putting up
stiff resistance.
While the troops were preoccupied with the remaining pockets of
resistance in Maseru, looters virtually destroyed the
centre of the city.
Buildings were set on fire and the
contents of most shops stolen.
At the border post with South
Africa,
a steady stream of foreigners have
been fleeing Lesotho.
Most diplomatic staff have been
evacuated and South African
citizens have been warned that they
could become the target of revenge
attacks.
Weeks of violence
The violence followed seven weeks
of protests over a disputed election
last May. Opposition demonstrators
had brought the capital to a standstill.
"The military intervention is at the request of the king
of Lesotho and
under the auspices of the Southern African Development
Community," said South African defence spokeswoman Laverne
Machine.
Lt Col Machine said that contrary to earlier
reports, 200 troops from Botswana had not yet
arrived but were expected later in the day.
Opposition spokeswoman Mamello Morrison
told South African radio from the palace
grounds that the intervention would be
unpopular with the majority of people in the
country.
"President (Nelson) Mandela has sent his soldiers to
butcher our
people," she said as gunfire erupted in the background.
'Regional support' for intervention
South African Deputy Foreign Minister Aziz Pahad said the
intervention was ordered in line with the 14-nation
Southern African
Development Community's (SADC) policy of supporting governments
in power.
"There was a coup in Lesotho and in terms of SADC policy, SADC
decided to assist the government to normalise the
situation so that
political processes can take their course," Mr Pahad told South
African radio. He did not say who had staged the coup.
Recent troubles
Lesotho has experienced seven weeks of anti-government
protests,
some of them violent, after the disputed election.
The oppositon complained that May's general election,
which gave
the ruling Congress for Democracy 79 out of 80 seats, was
rigged.
Earlier in September, 15 senior officers fled Lesotho for
South Africa.
They had been arrested by junior ranks and forced to
resign in a
disagreement over military intervention to end six weeks
of unrest in
the capital.
A mountainous land-locked country in the middle of South
Africa,
Lesotho has a population of 2 million people.
It is one of the world's poorest countries and has been
wracked by
coups and insurrections since it emerged from military
rule in 1993.
::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::
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
::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::