/ 28 February 1999

LESOTHO ARMY CHIEF TELLS OF MUTINY

A COURT martial in Lesotho on Friday heard how soldiers took the commander of the Lesotho Army, Lieutenant-General Makhula Modisakeng, to a radio station last September and forced him to announce that he had dismissed senior officers. Modisakeng was also forced to announce that he had resigned, the prosecution said. Forty-one soldiers pleaded not guilty to mutiny charges related to the attempted coup in Lesotho last year that lead to a South African-led intervention force entering the country. The trial was adjourned until Monday. Meanwhile, South African Navy divers who have been searching for weapons in dams in Lesotho since finished their task on Friday. The divers two R4 assault rifles, one 81-millimetre mortar bomb and a number of head and tail pieces from RPG-7 projectiles at Lesotho Defence Force most important barracks, Makoanyane.