Lesotho – what is going on?

It is a "long and winding road" to stability and peace in Lesotho.

This is my third blog post about the current situation in Lesotho. More and more I feel I have to state upfront:

I am writing under correction.

Lesotho is only a few hours away. But the news I get through media (both old and new) are confusing. Has there been a military coup or not? I don’t know.

Al Jazeera writes about the conflict between Lesotho's deputy prime minister and leader of the Lesotho Congress for Democracy (LCD) Mothetjoa Metsing and the Prime Minister, Thomas Thabane, leader of the All Basotho Congress (ABC). Together with a third party – the Basotho National Party (BNP) - they form a coalition.

The problem, according to Al Jazeera, is (and this I think really happened some months ago):

Thabane himself announced a nine-month suspension of parliament, effectively escaping a no-confidence vote that would have seen him ousted.

The political crisis that came out of this culminated on Saturday, when soldiers surrounded police headquarters and also shut down radio stations for hours. But was this a coup d'état? Al Jazeera writes about the events on Saturday:

… what may, or may not, have been a coup …

Nevertheless, the Prime Minister fled to South Africa. And on Sunday and Monday the SADC called the parties to talks. BBC reports that the SADC

… have rejected calls by Lesotho's exiled Prime Minister Thomas Thabane for the immediate deployment of troops to help restore order in his country …

This is indeed the right decision. It seems as if the solution rather lies in reopening the parliament, as an analyst says to Al Jazeera:

You just need to reopen parliament. Once it opens, the normal constitutional procedures can be followed to change the government.

Lesotho – back to order?

SABC3 – one of the state owned TV channels in South Africa – reported at 18h30 that leaders of the three coalition parties in Lesotho is meeting in Pretoria. President Zuma is mediating together with representatives from other SADC countries.

Earlier there were rumours that the commander in chief in Lesotho had been ousted. Obviously is it not true. Prime Minister, Thabane, who fled the country, says that things will go back to normal.

One major controversy, as far as I understand, is around him dissolving the parliament earlier this year. He was afraid that the parliament would carry through a vote to remove him.

There are plans to hold a big demonstration tomorrow. People demand that the Parliament reopens. The march didn't get permission last week. Whether or not they will get a go ahead tomorrow is also unclear.

I don’t find much information about this on the web. This is based on the SABC3. So I am writing under correction. I still hope that things will calm down. I pray that the politicians in Lesotho rather concentrate on finding ways to solve the problems of the poor.

Konsten att stämpla ett pass

När vi bodde i Södra Afrika, reste vi en del. Vi var i Lesotho, Swaziland, Botswana, Zimbabwe och ett tag även på väg till Mozambique. För barnen var det helt oförståeligt att alla stämplar måste hamna på samma sida i passet. Då gick det ju inte att läsa vilka länder de varit i.
Häromdagen pratade jag med någon, som hade behövt skaffa nytt pass innan det gamla gick ut, p g a att det var fullt. Passerar man många gränser, får många visa inklistrade, blir det lätt så. Vi är ju inte vana vid detta i vår del av världen. Vi kan färdas fritt i hela Europa och behöver inga visum. Det var länge sedan någon stämplade i våra pass.
Igår skulle en trojka ha träffats vid ett möte i Mbabane. Vid ett möte med SADC (Southern African Development Community) skulle de sista pusselbitarna i uppgörelsen i Zimbabwe läggas på plats. Zanu-PF ledaren Roberg Mugabe var där, MDC fraction ledaren Arthur Mutambara var där men den tredje och kanske viktigaste deltagaren, MDC-ledaren Morgan Tswangirai, hade inte fått sitt nya pass. Hans gamla var helt enkelt fullt. I uppgörelsen ska han bli premiärminister. Utan pass! Kungen i Swaziland, Mswati III, erbjöd sig att skicka sin privata jet och hämta honom. Tydligen fungerade inte detta. Plötsligt förstod jag detta med konsten att stämpla ett pass.