Coup or attempted coup in Lesotho
30 August 2014 Reuters: Gunfire heard in Lesotho as army moves on police in apparent coup <http://af.reuters.com/article/worldNews/idAFKBN0GU04W20140830?sp=true> "South Africa, which completely surrounds Lesotho, and the regional Southern African Development Community (SADC) were expected to issue a stern call for calm and warn the Lesotho political rivals that no unconstitutional change of government would be tolerated. "The movements by the army also followed the police's banning of a march planned for Monday by Metsing's Lesotho Congress for Democracy party." BBC: Lesotho 'coup' forces PM Thabane to South Africa <http://www.bbc.com/news/world-africa-28994193> 'Speaking to the BBC, [Lesotho Prime Minister] Thomas Thabane said he would return from South Africa, which surrounds Lesotho, "as soon as I know I am not going to get killed". 'Reports say the capital, Maseru, is now calm after soldiers seized buildings. The army denied staging a coup. 'The army is understood to have acted after the prime minister attempted to remove its chief, Lt Gen Kennedy Tlai Kamoli.' "To all intents and purposes it is a military coup with the aim of ousting the prime minister. There can be no other reason of soldiers behaving the way they have been behaving other than to seize power. "So far we have no reports of killings. It would be correct to call it a bloodless coup attempt. But I am not going to stick around. The chances are the situation may deteriorate. One does not know what is going to happen." Basildon Peta, publisher of the Lesotho Times, talking to the BBC Hindustan Times (from AFP): Lesotho military seize control of police HQ, jam radio stations: Minister <http://www.hindustantimes.com/world-news/lesotho-military-seize-control-of- police-hq-jam-radio-stations-minister/article1-1258194.aspx> Lesotho's military seized control of the tiny African kingdom's police headquarters and jammed radio stations and phones in the early hours Saturday, a government minister and member of the ruling coalition told AFP. "The armed forces, the special forces of Lesotho, have taken the headquarters of the police," sports minister and leader of the Basotho National Party Thesele Maseribane said, describing a possible coup attempt in the small nation located in eastern South Africa. "At four o'clock this morning (0200GMT) they were driving around the residence of the prime minister and my residence," he said. "There have been some gunfighting since 4 (am) up until 7 or 8." "They've jammed phones, they have jammed everything," he added. Maseribane said he fled hours earlier after being warned. "The commander said he was looking for me, the prime minister and the deputy minster to take us to the king. In our country that means a coup," he added. He insisted Prime Minister Tom Thabane's government was still in control. Voice of America: <http://www.voanews.com/content/lesotho-prime-minister-asks-regional-bloc-to -help-restore-order/2433164.html> Lesotho Prime Minister Thomas Thabane has called on the Southern African Development Community (SADC) to help restore law and order in the country following an alleged attempted coup by the military on Saturday. In an interview with VOA, Thabane said he fled to neighboring South Africa to protect his family after he received intelligence that he was being targeted for assassination by the military. He says the country remains tense after gun shots were heard in the capital, Maseru, when military police surrounded government buildings. "The situation involves total indiscipline in the army led by the commander himself," said Prime Minister Thabane. "It was government's decision to release him from his command after many years in charge and that of course was done within the constitution," said the prime minister. VC -- -- You are subscribed. This footer can help you. Please POST your comments to [email protected] or reply to this message. You can visit the group WEB SITE at http://groups.google.com/group/yclsa-eom-forum for different delivery options, pages, files and membership. To UNSUBSCRIBE, please email [email protected] . You don't have to put anything in the "Subject:" field. You don't have to put anything in the message part. All you have to do is to send an e-mail to this address (repeat): [email protected] . --- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "YCLSA Discussion Forum" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to [email protected]. For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout.
