Lesotho PM flees after Army ‘ coup’

Deputy PM accused of colluding with military Lesotho is a tiny landlocked country surrounded by South Africa

Johannesburg, Aug. 30: Lesotho Prime Minister Tom Thabane confirmed Saturday that the military had seized power in a coup in the tiny kingdom and that he had fled to neighbouring South Africa in fear of his life. Lesotho is not only landlocked but also surrounded on all sides by the territory of just one other state, South Africa. At 30,355 square kilometres, it is the same size as Belgium.

“I have been removed from control not by the people but by the armed forces, and that is illegal,” Mr Thabane told the BBC.

“I came into South Africa this morning and I will return as soon as my life is not in danger.

“I will not go back to Lesotho to get killed,” he said. Lesotho’s military seized control of police headquarters and the Premier’s residence in the capital Maseru in the early hours of Saturday, but later withdrew, a government minister said.

“The armed forces, the special forces of Lesotho, have taken the headquarters of the police,” said sports minister and leader of the Basotho National Party, Thesele Maseribane.

“The ( military) commander said he was looking for me, the Prime Minister and the deputy prime minister to take us to the king. In our country, that means a coup,” he said.

The putsch comes just months after a power struggle in the landlocked country that describes itself as the “kingdom in the sky”.

Mr Maseribane said people with guns were roaming the city, but that he had no information about casualties, accusing the military of jamming radio stations and phone networks.

He accused deputy prime minister Mothetjoa Metsing, leader of coalition partner Lesotho Congress for Democracy, of involvement in the move to seize power. An AFP photographer reported shots ringing out in the early hours.