Lesotho Leader Overthrown in Military Coup

The government of Chief Leabua Jonathan, prime minister of the small mountain kingdom of Lesotho, which has been under a South African economic blockade, was overthrown by the country’s military early today, Radio Lesotho announced.

The brief statement said that Maj. Gen. Justin M. Lekhanya, the politically conservative commander of the 3,000-man paramilitary force, which serves as the country’s army, had taken over the government because of “the failure of politicians to govern” and to resolve the country’s mounting problems.

“This step has been taken to install peace and national reconciliation, which has been a problem of politicians in Lesotho,” the broadcast announcement said. “The whole nation is urged to cooperate and avoid unnecessary conflict.”

Surrounded by S. Africa

Lesotho, which is surrounded by South Africa, has been under an economic blockade for three weeks with virtually no goods moving in or out of the country. Political tensions in Lesotho have risen sharply as a result, with many residents criticizing Jonathan’s refusal to compromise with South Africa over the issue of sheltering South African political refugees.

Only on Sunday afternoon, Jonathan had accused South Africa of trying to oust him from power and destabilize Lesotho. He called on Britain and the United States for political support and for assistance in lifting the economic blockade, which he said was strangling Lesotho.

South African Foreign Minister Roelof F. (Pik) Botha, speaking in Cape Town before the coup was announced, replied that Jonathan himself was the “single greatest destabilizer” in Lesotho and accused him to trying to “blackmail” the West by threatening to turn to Communist countries for help.

Radio Lesotho said that Lekhanya, whose troops had surrounded Jonathan’s office last week, setting off rumors of an imminent coup, would govern under King Moshoeshoe II, Lesotho’s monarch, and would be assisted by a military council. The principal secretaries, or top civil servants, would remain in charge of government departments, the announcement said.

Residents of Maseru, the Lesotho capital, about 220 miles south of here, reported that the city was quiet Monday morning after the 6 a.m. announcement, which had appealed for everyone to go about their normal activities. Hundreds of people were on the streets, apparently going to work, within an hour after the coup was announced, according to residents, and few soldiers or police were seen.

But machine-gun fire had been heard late Sunday from the military barracks south of the city, the scene of clashes on Friday and Saturday by rival political factions in the paramilitary force. At least four persons and perhaps as many as 17 were killed in those earlier clashes.

Jonathan had told foreign newsmen on Sunday that he was firmly in control of the government despite growing criticism of his autocratic ways, but his statement may have been the final factor in Lekhanya’s decision to oust him, according to political sources in Maseru.

Jonathan, 71, had ruled Lesotho since it gained independence from Britain in 1966 but with never a full election; results of a 1970 vote were set aside when Jonathan feared that his Basotho National Party would lose, and an election planned for last October was canceled when opposition parties refused to participate on grounds that it would be rigged against them.