Maseru

Prince Harry, third in line to the British throne, met on Friday with Aids orphans being cared for by a charity in Lesotho launched in memory of his late mother Princess Diana. The 23-year-old, on his fifth visit to the mountainous Southern African kingdom, travelled to a remote western region where he launched the Sentable charity a little over a year ago.

Lesotho on Tuesday charged five men, including three members of the African mountain kingdom’s defence force, with treason in connection with recent attacks on leading politicians. They were arrested by soldiers in the city last weekend, weeks after houses belonging to three government ministers and the leader of the main opposition party were shot at.

An indefinite curfew has been imposed in Lesotho’s capital, Maseru, following a series of attacks by gunmen targeting senior political figures and their bodyguards, police said on Tuesday. ”The announcement follows a series of attacks made on ministers and their bodyguards since June 11,” police spokesperson Inspector Pheello Mphana said.

A Southern African Development Community (SADC) Council of Ministers meeting in Lesotho on Thursday steered clear of the political crisis in Zimbabwe. The meeting reviewed last year’s heads of state and government summit decisions to see how far the SADC had gone in economic integration before the next ministerial meeting to be held in the near future.

Leaders and MPs of five opposition parties in Lesotho’s 120-member Parliament started an indefinite sit-in at the Parliament buildings on Thursday. They have called on their supporters and the Basotho nation at large to stay away from work from Monday next week.

Lesotho’s ruling party has won parliamentary elections after facing a tough challenge from a new opposition group in the tiny Southern African kingdom, plagued by one of the world’s worst HIV/Aids crises. The Lesotho Congress for Democracy took 61 constituencies out of a total 80, while the main opposition All Basotho Convention gained 17.

The ruling Lesotho Congress for Democracy was building up a commanding lead over its rivals as counting continued on Monday after weekend parliamentary elections. Prime Minister Pakalitha Mosisili’s party had won 26 seats while Tom Thabane’s All Basotho Convention was trailing in second place with 12 seats.

The first two results announced on Sunday in Lesotho’s closely contested parliamentary election gave the Lesotho Congress for Democracy, in power for a decade, and the opposition ABC one seat each. Electoral officials said the All Basutho Congress (ABC), led by former communications minister Thomas Thabane, had won the Lithoteng constituency in the capital, Maseru.

Voters in Lesotho, one of Africa’s poorest and most Aids-ridden countries, started voting on Saturday with the ruling party trying to fend off a fierce challenge from one of its old leading lights. The streets of the capital Maseru were empty apart from the polling stations where voters queued up to cast their ballots.

The leader of Lesotho’s newly formed opposition party expressed confidence on Friday of turfing his old colleagues out of office on the eve of an election that pundits have found too close to call. As electoral officials put ballot boxes in place for Saturday’s election, security was tightened across the Southern African nation.

The tiny Southern African kingdom of Lesotho will hold elections on February 17 2007 following Prime Minister Pakalitha Mosisili’s decision to dissolve Parliament, state-run radio said on Thursday. The government also said the last day for registering voters would be December 8. Out of a population of roughly 1,8-million, about 900 000 voters have registered.

Lesotho’s King Letsie III on Friday dissolved the Parliament of the tiny mountainous kingdom in Southern Africa, paving the way for elections next February. A member of Lesotho’s three-member Independent Electoral Commission said preparations for next year’s general election, originally scheduled for April or May, are already afoot.

Three opposition parties in Lesotho announced the formation of a new alliance on Monday to fight a general election which is due to take place next year. The Alliance of Congress Parties brings together three parties — the Lesotho People’s Congress, Basotholand African Congress and Basotho Congress party — which split from the ruling Lesotho Congress for Democracy.

Thousands of people attended the launch of a new political party in the tiny African kingdom of Lesotho on Sunday, with its leader pledging to spearhead a war on poverty. Tom Thabane, a former foreign minister who quit Prime Minister Pakalitha Mosisili’s government earlier this month, told supporters of the All Basotho Convention that it was a time for a change.

The 14-nation Southern African Community (SADC) will have to either streamline or improve norms to meet its 2008 target for a free-trade area, a senior official from the bloc said on Thursday. ”Processes at the border posts, including documentation will have to be improved so that movement of goods will become faster,” said Timothy Thahane, Finance Minister of Lesotho.

A leading member of Lesotho’s Cabinet resigned Monday and launched a new party to challenge the Lesotho Congress for Democracy’s decade-long grip on power in elections next year. Science and Communications Minister Tom Thabane, an ex-foreign minister, said the government of the tiny Southern African kingdom had lost its way.

The tiny Southern African kingdom of Lesotho celebrated 40 years of independence from Britain on Wednesday with a new national flag meant to depict peace and unity. The new flag was raised by head of state King Letsie III at midnight on Tuesday in the national stadium in front of a crowd of about 500 who turned out in extremely cold weather.

The tiny Southern African kingdom of Lesotho celebrates its 40th anniversary of independence from Britain on Wednesday by unveiling a new flag to replace a martial one introduced after a 1986 coup. Deputy Prime Minister Lesao Lehohla said the flag — whose unveiling will cap national celebrations — showed ”a nation at peace with itself and at peace with its neighbours”.