OWN CORRESPONDENT, Johannesburg | Tuesday 11.30pm
AN ESTIMATED 300 Botswanan Defence Force troops have arrived in Lesotho. Elijah Legwaila, senior permanent secretary in the office of Botswana President Festus Mogae confirmed the deployment and said: “Our troops arrived in Lesotho [on Tuesday] and will remain there until the situation is stabilised. The situation in Lesotho has reached a high state of anarchy. The government of Lesotho has been reduced to a position where it is unable to govern.”
A statement from Mogae’s office said repeated efforts to reason with hostile elements of the Royal Lesotho Defence Force had proved futile.
Tuesday, 11.00pm
SOUTH African civilians trapped in Maseru are in hiding and in fear of their lives. They are using telephones secretly and are afraid to give out their numbers in case their whereabouts is revealed.
One caller to the eM&G said that “many” South Africans were trapped, and reported that heavy fighting could still be heard at the Makonyane military base outside Maseru at 10.45pm. The caller said that “nobody can find the South African ambassador” and he is believed to have fled the country. They do not know whom to contact for help, and are afraid to go onto the streets, let alone try to get to the border.
When it was suggested that they contact the South African military in Maseru the caller said that most of the South African forces were at Makonyane, although some were still “hiding” in Maseru. Nobody had phone numbers or any way in which to contact the SANDF forces in Lesotho itself.
The caller seemed to be in shock. “We don’t know what they are doing here,” he said. “They are shooting innocent people.” He nonetheless sounded relieved to have confirmation that Botswanan and additional South African troops were headed for Lesotho.
Repeated calls to the SANDF command headquarters in Bloemfontein, and to SANDF spokesperson Lieutenent-Colonel Laverne Machin were either unanswered or directed to voicemail.
Tuesday 8.30pm
THIRTY people are reported killed in the violence sweeping Lesotho, although the reports are so far unconfirmed. Five South African National Defence force soldiers are dead, as well as an estimated 17 Lesotho Defence Force troops killed in a fierce gun battle at Katse Dam which is still raging.
Heavy fighting is also continuing at the Makonyane military base outside Maseru, SABC3 reports.
Botswana troops have arrived at the Lesotho border and are expected to cross into the mountain kingdom either later tonight or in the early hours of Wednesday morning. A column from Tempe military base in Bloemfontein is also reported to be en route to Lesotho, and is expected to arrive late on Tuesday night. All units at Tempe are on standby.
Lesotho government officials and SANDF spokespeople have said that the South African troops ran into much heavier resistance than they expected, especially at Katse and Makonyane.
In Maseru, rioters continue to loot shops and then set them alight, and entire shopping centres are burning out. The High Court has also been burnt down.
The official death toll in Maseru itself stands at 10, with 60 injured. Wounded SANDF personnel have been flown out to Bloemfontein.
Text of Mosisili’s request for military assistance Medic ‘lived for soldiering’