MASERU: Lesotho's exiled prime minister is heading home, an aide told AFP on Monday, as regional mediators sought to reinstall him to power days after an apparent coup.
"We are going home now, most probably we will be in Lesotho tomorrow," Samonyane Ntsekele, an advisor to Prime Minister Tom Thabane, said from Pretoria, where southern African states brokered a deal to end the crisis.
Thabane had fled across the border to South Africa before dawn on Saturday, as troops attacked key police installations and surrounded his official residence.
The military and a rival political party the Lesotho Congress for Democracy (LCD) have been accused of trying to oust the 75-year-old, a charge they vehemently deny.
South African president Jacob Zuma and representatives from governments in the regional bloc SADC had brought together leaders from Lesotho's three ruling coalition parties to resolve their differences.
According to a joint statement Thabane will now move to end the suspension of parliament, a key demand of rival parties.
The Southern African Development Community will also send an observer team to the mountainous African kingdom to monitor political, defence and security developments.
There was no mention of a SADC peacekeeping force, as requested by Thabane. Thabane will return to a country which for three days appeared to be without a government.
The police force is in disarray after being forcibly disarmed by troops and the military is seemingly beyond political control, leaving ordinary people fearing for the future.
"We don't know what is happening. They are just fighting for their own things they don't want to say anything to us," said Lineo Mattadi, a 28-year-old upholstery factory worker.
In an attempt to fill that vacuum Motloheloa Phooko, a minister from the LCD, raised eyebrows on Monday by saying he was acting prime minister thanks to "cabinet protocol".
The confusion continued on Monday evening when gunshots were heard in Maseru by AFP reporters though it was initially unclear if this was related to the ongoing tensions.
Comments
Comments are closed.