Mutiny in Lesotho Over, Leader Says

South African troops were preparing to fan out to other parts of Lesotho today after imposing calm on the capital, which was ravaged by a wave of anarchy that had erupted as they moved in to quell a rebellion.

Prime Minister Pakalitha Mosisili, speaking in his first national broadcast since he called South African and Botswana troops to his rescue Tuesday, declared that the army mutiny was over.

“The army management, which was illegally removed, has been reinstated and is in full control,” he said.

But Gen. Siphiwe Nyanda, the head of the South African Defense Force, told reporters: “Some of the renegades have moved north and south. Their movement is being accompanied by looting and burning. A plan has been presented to me for redeploying to other areas from areas secured.”

South Africa and Botswana came to Mosisili’s aid in the name of the Southern African Development Community.

But their intervention ignited fierce fighting in which at least 66 people, including eight South African soldiers, have died, and provoked stinging criticism that the mission had been botched.

On Friday the guns of Lesotho Defense Force rebels in the hills above Maseru were almost silent for the first time in three days, although reporters did see troops skirmish with a small band of rebels near the capital.

Before Tuesday’s incursion, five people had died in seven weeks of violent clashes between government supporters on one side and soldiers and opposition parties demanding the annulment of the May election, which they say was rigged.

The South African forces in jLesotho number about 800, Nyanda said, whereas the total strength of the Lesotho Defense Force is estimated at 2,500, although it is not clear how many of them have been involved in the fighting.

Army officers believe that a number of Lesotho rebels have swapped their uniforms for civilian clothing and fled to the hills.