OWN CORRESPONDENT, Maseru | Tuesday 9.00pm.
LESOTHO Defence Force commanders have been threatened with legal action by lawyers acting for three of the 30 mutineers arrested last week.
The lawyers have been denied access to their clients, in apparent contempt of a Tuesday High Court order giving the mutineers the right to counsel. One of the soldiers’ lawyers also wishes to sue Colonel Robbie Hartslief, commander of the Southern African Development Community peacekeeping force for illegally arresting or assisting in the arrest of the 30 soldiers.
Meanwhile, three of four South African soldiers serving with the SADC force have been sentenced to time in detention and an army discharge, for charges of being absent without leave, and losing and negligently firing weapons.
Another five soldiers must face misconduct charges in hearings at Bird’s Nest, the current intervention force headquarters.
* France has pledged food aid worth more than $226 000 to Lesotho, to be be channelled through the United Nations World Food Programme, according to French Ambassador to South Africa Tristan D’albis.