The Southern Times

4 Friday 23 - 29 November 2018 The Southern Times
■ NEWS
Lesotho lowers SADC
flag as SAPMIL ends
intervention mission
■ Colleta Dewa
Johannesburg - The Southern
African Development Community
(SADC) has withdrawn
its troops from Lesotho, as
the intervention mission ended its
operations in that country.
The troops, which were mobilised
from SADC countries,
including Angola, Namibia,
Zambia and Zimbabwe, had been
operating in the politically unstable
mountainous Lesotho since 2
December 2017.
The SADC flag was lowered during
an exit parade at the Setsoto
Stadium in Maseru on Tuesday,
20 November.
The Standby Force, also known
as the SADC Preventive Mission in
Lesotho (SAPMIL), comprised of
207 soldiers, 15 intelligence personnel,
24 police officers and 12 civilian
experts.
SADC Executive Secretary, Dr
Stergomena Lawrence Tax, com-
mended the force for the role they
played in ensuring that peace was
maintained in the country.
She also sent a message of condolence
for the SADC soldiers who
lost their lives in the Democratic
Republic of Congo’s North Kivu
Province last week.
“On a sad note, allow me on
behalf of SADC to pass my condolences
to the people of the DRC,
Malawi and Tanzania for the loss of
our soldiers who were killed in the
North Kivu province on the 14th of
November 2018,” she said.
Speaking during the exit parade,
Lesotho Prime Thomas Motsoahae
Thabane said he was grateful
for the assistance that his country
received from SADC adding that
he is confident the SADC mission
was leaving at a time when stability
had been restored in the country’s
security apparatus.
“I am hopeful that the security
will now be able to respect civilian
authority and conduct their ser-
› Lesotho Prime Thomas Motsoahae Thabane
vices as mandated by the constitution
of Lesotho of Lesotho,” he said.
The Lesotho Defence Force
(LDF) also expressed their determination
in dealing with malcontents
who may want to take
advantage of the void created by
the departure of the SADC troops
to create mayhem in the country.
“We are ready to thwart any
elements who may want to see the
departure of the SADC troops as
a license to renew their past anarchy….That
will not be tolerated…
We will deal with any such elements
mercilessly,” said a LDF
official.
The SADC force was essentially
deployed to prevent rogue LDF
soldiers from destabilising Prime
Minister Thabane’s coalition as it
went about implementing SADC
recommended reforms to curb perennial
instability in the Kingdom.
SAPMIL was initially deployed
for a period of six months until
May 2018 after which the mission
was extended by a further six
months to November 2018 to foster
a conducive environment to
help the country in implementing
SADC’s recommended multi-sectoral
reforms while pushing for the
restoration of the rule of law.
The reforms were recommended
by SADC in 2016 as part of measures
to bring lasting peace and stability
to the country.
The regional body’s recommendations
were made in the aftermath
of the Justice Mpaphi Phumaphi-led
SADC Commission of
Inquiry into the circumstances
surrounding the fatal shooting
of former army commander,
Maaparankoe Mahao, by his army
colleagues in 2015.
The regional body gave Lesotho
until May 2019 to have fully implemented
constitutional and security
sector reforms but the process has
been stalled by bickering between
the government and the opposition
with the later making a plethora
of demands before it participates.
However, the impasse between
the two sides seems to have finally
been resolved after they signed a
pledge committing to participating
in the reform process.
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