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dam-l <fwd> Chaos in Lesotho: military action/LS
Hello dam-listers:
I am cc'ing this to the dam list for any interested in developments in
the political situation in Lesotho, where the Lesotho Hiughlands projects
are being built.
-Dianne
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Associated PRess story, Sept. 23:
SCATTERED GUNFIRE AND explosions echoed through the
capital, and many stores were smoldering
from fires set on Tuesday, when
600 South African troops crossed the
border to quell a military uprising.
The South African military said
Wednesday that eight South African
soldiers and 40 rebels were killed in
Tuesday's fighting, which surprised
the South Africans with its ferocity.
Seventeen more South Africans were
wounded in the combat - South Africa's
first military intervention since
the end of apartheid.
SHOOT TO KILL
South African military officials in
Pretoria warned in a statement that
their men would now use more firepower to
suppress the Lesotho
mutineers.
"Where the peace forces started out
by being circumspect in clashes,
they will now shoot to kill," a military
spokesman told the South African
Press Association.
Reinforcements, mostly from
Botswana, arrived overnight to help the
South Africans put down resistance from
mutinous Lesotho soldiers holed
up in the mountains.
About 170 mutinous Lesotho soldiers
were captured Tuesday, the
military in Pretoria said.
Lesotho (pronounced leh-SOO-too),
an impoverished kingdom slightly
smaller than Maryland with a population of
2 million, is surrounded by
South Africa, which it depends on for jobs
and income.
Under President Nelson Mandela -
who today received the United
States' highest honor, the Congressional
Gold Medal - South Africa has
promoted a nonintervention policy
throughout Africa. The decision to
send soldiers into Lesotho unleashed
biting criticism.
South African opposition parties,
churches, civic groups and callers to
radio shows almost unanimously denounced it.
"We are neighboring countries. We
are brothers and sisters. Why are
we killing each other?" said Tony Leon,
leader of the opposition
Democratic Party.
The intervention came at the
request of Lesotho's Prime Minister
Pakalitha Mosisili after a revolt by
junior military officers and amid
opposition strikes that paralyzed the
capital, Maseru.
Some of the ousted military leaders
fled Lesotho. The remaining
military appeared to be siding with an
opposition movement that claims
elections last May - swept by the ruling
Lesotho Congress Party - were
rigged.
South African media reported that
both the Lesotho government and
the opposition said they were ready to
negotiate an end to the crisis.
However, it was not immediately clear
today if senior Lesotho government
ministers were in the country.
HEARTS AND MINDS
South African troops distributed
fliers today telling people that their
intervention, on behalf of the Southern
African Development Community,
was aimed at preventing "anarchy" and to
"create a stable environment for
law and order."
But many residents of Lesotho saw
the South Africans as an invading
force.
Michael Mohale, a resident of
Maseru, noted that South Africa
opposed military intervention in the Congo
war. But, "we're a small
country, so they just came right in and
didn't bother to keep a policy on
no military intervention," he said.
As a convoy of armored personnel
carriers moved past shattered and
gutted stores, several women jeered and
pointed toward the border on the
edge of town.
"Go home!" they shouted.
At the Makonyane barracks northeast
of Maseru, where a senior
commander said 10 South African soldiers
were slain Tuesday, bursts of
machine-gun fire from the mountain
overlooking the compound punctuated
the dawn. The military in Pretoria,
however, today gave a death toll of
eight South African soldiers and 40
rebels. There was no way to reconcile
the differing figures.
Overnight, 60mm and 88mm mortar
rounds crashed into the
compound from the mountain, sending South
African soldiers scurrying for
protection in their armored personnel carriers.
© 1998 Associated Press. All rights
reserved. This material may not
be published, broadcast, rewritten or
redistributed.
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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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