Lesotho march cancelled after 'coup'

Written By Unknown on Senin, 01 September 2014 | 19.15

1 September 2014 Last updated at 10:37
Thomas Thabane

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Thomas Thabane says he will return to Lesotho

A demonstration by opponents of Lesotho Prime Minister Thomas Thabane has been called off after he fled on Saturday, saying the military wanted to oust him.

The army has denied staging a coup and says it has returned to barracks.

A military spokesman said it had disarmed the police forces because they were planning to arm "fanatics" in Monday's march.

Mr Thabane fled to South Africa, where he held emergency talks on the situation on Sunday.

There is no news of what emerged from the talks between Mr Thabane, his two deputies and South Africa's President Jacob Zuma.

Lesotho, a mountain kingdom entirely surrounded by South Africa, has experienced several military takeovers since independence in 1966.

Mr Thabane told the BBC he would return from South Africa "as soon as I know I am not going to get killed".

Reports say the capital, Maseru, is now calm after soldiers were involved in an exchange of fire outside two police stations on Saturday morning.

One police officer was killed and four wounded after the military intervened, police say.

Lesotho military spokesman Ntlele Ntoi said the military had received intelligence that the police were going to arm factions involved in Monday's march by the Lesotho Congress for Democracy (LCD).

The LCD is led by Deputy Prime Minister Mothetjoa Metsing, who has been in an uneasy coalition with Mr Thabane's All Basotho Convention since 2012.

The prime minister has hinted that his deputy might have links to the military's actions.

Mr Metsing, who was involved in the talks with Mr Thabane and South Africa's President Zuma on Sunday, has not commented on those allegations but has also denied there was a coup.

He told the AFP news agency that under the constitution, a member of his party, Motloheloa Phooko, was now running the country, because both himself and the prime minister were abroad.

Mr Thabane suspended parliamentary sessions in June ahead of a confidence vote in his administration.

Monday's march had been intended to demand that parliament reopen.

On Saturday, the prime minister said the army had rendered the government "dysfunctional", an action that amounted to a coup.

South Africa's government on Saturday described the situation as "worrying", with spokesman Clayson Monyela saying the country would not tolerate "unconstitutional change of government".

UN chief Ban Ki-moon has also expressed concern about the "military takeover" and called for respect for "democratic rule".

The army is understood to have acted after the prime minister attempted to remove its chief, Lt Gen Kennedy Tlai Kamoli.

The army said the general was still in charge, saying the military "supports the democratically elected government of the day," Reuters news agency reported.


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