Lesotho rebel soldiers this week invited reporter Sechaba ka’Nkosi to view their secret camps
Rebel soldiers of the Lesotho Defence Force (LDF), who ignored this week’s ultimatum to report back to their bases, claim a large quantity of arms are in their hands at safe houses around the capital Maseru and in surrounding villages.
The rebels – who are funded mainly by Basotho civilians and professionals – claim that as the Southern African Development Community (SADC) peacekeeping force attempts to round them up at strategic points in Maseru, they are advancing inland to prepare themselves for possible combat against the forces, in particular, the South African National Defence Force (SANDF).
They contend that even if a political solution is found for the mountain kingdom, it would be difficult to govern the army because of growing resentment at the way in which reinstated army chiefs helped SADC forces identify strategic positions.
“It’s betrayal of the worst kind,” says one of the rebel commanders. “We are the most powerful institution in Lesotho and if we cannot get our leaders to account for their actions, then no other institution would be able to do so.”
This week the rebels began a trek back from their mountain hideouts to start a mass mobilisation campaign that would rally the nation behind them before launching their threatened all- out insurrection against the SADC.
The mass mobilisation strategy is a key component of a plan aimed at stirring up a national uprising by ordinary citizens against the SADC and LDF officers.
At this weekend’s burial of some of the LDF members who died in combat last week, the rebels expect to seize the opportunity to intensify their mass mobilisation campaign. Attempts to conduct a single mass funeral with full military honours failed as distraught families wanted to bury their relatives at different places and times.
The rebels also claim they have infiltrated the SADC force as a strategy to understand its operational tactics. They hope to launch an offensive to seize back their barracks, particularly the Makoanyane headquarters.
SANDF commander Colonel Robbie Hartslief this week voiced concern at the slow pace at which the mutineers have reported back. But he said the SANDF is on track to isolate the troublemakers.
Said Hartslief: “If the rebels do not hand themselves over, we will go and fetch them. We know where they are.”
The rebels claim to have advanced their network inside the country to a point where they have established new bases in Thaba Bosiu and in the Setibing mountains near Modimo Nthuse with the assistance of the villagers.
Mail & Guardian reporters were taken to three rebel “camps” in Maseru and outlying villages this week, and to a makeshift headquarters where the weapons were said to have been stored.
But promises that we would see the weapons and be allowed to take photographs of them did not materialise, and junior officers refused to allow the M&G to do so for “security reasons”.
It is believed the rebels are led by at least eight lieutenants who refused to heed the SADC call to return to their bases. One of the lieutenants claimed there are more than 1 000 LDF mutineers who refuse to go back for fear of being prosecuted and because of the way in which the SANDF treated those who did.
The self-styled rebel commander, who refused to give his name, said the rebels have in their hands tons of arms looted from the Makoanyane base during last week’s skirmishes, which left nearly 20 LDF and eight SANDF soldiers dead.
They also claim to have the unaccounted-for weapons the LDF received from the former Soviet bloc, and arms bought in Asia at the time of apartheid South Africa’s cross-border raids in the 1980s.
Also unaccounted for are arms surrendered by former prime minister Ntsu Mokhehle’s Lesotho Liberation Army, which were not registered when Mokhehle demobilised his forces.
The rebels claim to have about 2 000 AK-47 rifles, limpet mines and landmines, rocket-propelled gren- ades, small-calibre rocket launchers, bombs, mortars and anti-aircraft launchers.
However, the commanders confirmed that divisions among the rebels and the dusk-to-dawn curfew imposed by the SADC last week have hampered the development of their resistance.
Their units, which comprise between 10 and 20 members, mix freely with civilians and communicate with their headquarters during the day. When night falls, they retreat to their bases to be debriefed by those who have reported back and to plan their next move, which is reported to the commanders the next day.
The rebels have taken full advantage of anger against the ruling LCD and SANDF troops by most Basotho following the military intervention last week and the subsequent collapse of Maseru’s central business district.
This week hastily prepared pamphlets in seSotho, denouncing the LCD and the SANDF, were distributed, calling on the nation to use any means to resist the invasion.
The rebels do not only have the backing of civilians. It is understood opposition parties and certain members of the royal family have given a tacit thumbs-up for the use of arms against the SANDF. There is also claimed support from retired and former senior officers of the LDF, who still command influence.
The rebels are using the failure by SADC forces to establish the number of LDF members who are absent without leave, and the failure by the army’s command to provide the SADC force with proper information.
The official figure given by Hartslief for soldiers who have returned was 1 671, against 32 defectors. But opposition parties and LDF sources say the army has more than 3 500 soldiers.