roops sent in after weeks of unrest Buildings in Maseru, the capital of Lesotho, have been burning overnight as the situation descends into chaos. South African troops arrived in the country on Tuesday after months of opposition protests over complaints that the government had rigged general elections in May. South Africas acting President, Mangosthu Buthelezi, says the soldiers will stay until peace is restored but Lesotho looks to be in the grip of anarchy as sporadic gunfire continues in Maseru. The BBCs correspondent Jeremy Vine says Lesothan police are finally taking action against looters but not before the capital was comprehensively stripped. Many buildings are still smoking after a series of arson attacks across Maseru, he reports. South African troops are said to have captured the barracks at Makoanyne, which may prove to be a turning point in their military confrontation with rebels in the Lesothan army. But as an exercise in restoring order, their intervention, to prevent a coup they said, has been hugely counter-productive. It will take months, perhaps years, to rebuild Maseru, he said. Earlier, Mr Buthelezi, told the BBC that South African soldiers would stay until the situation was peacefully resolved. We regard this as a very serious attempt to try and normalise the situation at the request of the legitimate government of Lesotho, he said. South African soldiers were joined by troops from Botswana. The Botswana Government said they had been sent to restore law and order under an agreement signed by the Lesotho king in 1994 that Botswana, South Africa and Zimbabwe would guarantee democracy there. At least five South African soldiers have been killed during the fighting in Maseru, the first to die in active service since apartheid ended. Another 11 Lesotho soldiers have been wounded in the clashes. Reports say there are several civilian casualties and hospitals are treating dozens of people with bullet injuries. Jeremy Vine said earlier that the South African forces had not expected such fierce resistance because they did not account for opposition factions within the Lesotho Defence Force. Regional support for intervention Our correspondent says the arrival of troops from Botswana is important for South Africa because they do not want to be seen as taking unilateral action against their neighbour. He says South Africa wants to present the intervention as in line with the 14- nation Southern African Development Communitys (SADC) policy of supporting governments in power. The South African Deputy Foreign Minister, Aziz Pahad, earlier said: There was a coup in Lesotho and in terms of SADC policy, SADC decided to assist the government to normalise the situation so that political processes can take their course. Evacuation At the border post with South Africa, a steady stream of foreigners have been fleeing Lesotho. Most diplomatic staff have been evacuated and South African citizens have been warned that they could become the target of revenge attacks. Recent troubles Lesotho has experienced seven weeks of anti- government protests, some of them violent, after the disputed election. The opposition complained that Mays general election, which gave the ruling Congress for Democracy 79 out of 80 seats, was rigged. Earlier in September, 15 senior officers fled Lesotho for South Africa. They had been arrested by junior ranks and forced to resign in a disagreement over military intervention to end six weeks of unrest in the capital.
Posted on: Sat, 07 Jun 2014 07:58:38 +0000
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