{"id":44449,"date":"2014-09-03T12:27:20","date_gmt":"2014-09-03T12:27:20","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/4cd.e16.myftpupload.com\/?p=44449"},"modified":"2014-09-03T12:27:20","modified_gmt":"2014-09-03T12:27:20","slug":"lesotho-pm-thabane-returns-home-after-fleeing-coup","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/citifmonline.com\/?p=44449","title":{"rendered":"Lesotho PM Thabane returns home after fleeing &#8216;coup&#8217;"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Lesotho&#8217;s Prime Minister Thomas Thabane has returned home after fleeing the mountain kingdom to neighbouring South Africa on Saturday.<\/p>\n<p>At the time he said the military had staged a coup &#8211; a charge it denied.<\/p>\n<p>Regional leaders rejected his call for troops to be deployed to restore order.<\/p>\n<p>The unrest is thought to be linked to a struggle between Mr Thabane, reportedly supported by the police, and Deputy Prime Minister Mothetjoa Metsing, said to have the loyalty of the army.<\/p>\n<div><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" alt=\"Map\" src=\"http:\/\/news.bbcimg.co.uk\/media\/images\/77272000\/jpg\/_77272395_lesotho082014.jpg\" width=\"464\" height=\"261\" \/><\/div>\n<p>Mr Thabane has headed a unity government since elections in May 2012, but suspended parliament sessions in June amid feuding in his coalition.<\/p>\n<p>Lesotho, which is surrounded by South Africa, has experienced several coups since independence in 1966.<\/p>\n<p>Audience with the king<\/p>\n<p>A source in Maseru told the BBC that Mr Thabane and Mr Metsing were escorted into the capital by South African police.<\/p>\n<p>It is reported by be calm in the city, with business continuing as usual.<\/p>\n<p>South African police are guarding state house, the prime minister&#8217;s official residence, and Mr Metsing&#8217;s home, the source said.<\/p>\n<div><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" alt=\"Basuto Huts in Pitseng, Lesotho (file picture)\" src=\"http:\/\/news.bbcimg.co.uk\/media\/images\/77274000\/jpg\/_77274582_77272452.jpg\" width=\"624\" height=\"351\" \/><\/div>\n<div>Lesotho is a largely rural country dominated by mountains and surrounded on all sides by South Africa<\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" alt=\"Army personnel man outside the military headquarters in Maseru, Lesotho on 31 August 2014.\" src=\"http:\/\/news.bbcimg.co.uk\/media\/images\/77300000\/jpg\/_77300714_77300713.jpg\" width=\"624\" height=\"351\" \/><\/div>\n<div>The army has denied it was involved in a plot to take power<\/div>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>Prime Minister Thabane and his deputies are due to appear before King Letsie III later to present a report about meetings held on Sunday and Monday in South Africa to resolve the crisis.<\/p>\n<p>South Africa&#8217;s President Jacob Zuma held separate talks, under the auspices of the South African Development Community (Sadc) regional bloc, with Mr Tabane and his rivals.<\/p>\n<p>Conflict broke out on Saturday morning with soldiers involved in an exchange of fire outside two police stations.<\/p>\n<p>One police officer was killed and four wounded after the military intervened, police say.<\/p>\n<p>A military spokesman had said the army had received intelligence that the police were going to arm factions ahead of a march by Mr Metsing&#8217;s Lesotho Congress for Democracy (LCD).<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>Source: BBC<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Lesotho&#8217;s Prime Minister Thomas Thabane has returned home after fleeing the mountain kingdom to neighbouring South Africa on Saturday. At the time he said the military had staged a coup &#8211; a charge it denied. Regional leaders rejected his call for troops to be deployed to restore order. The unrest is thought to be linked [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":14,"featured_media":44452,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jnews-multi-image_gallery":[],"jnews_single_post":[],"jnews_primary_category":[],"jnews_social_meta":[],"jnews_override_counter":[],"footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[14],"class_list":["post-44449","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","tag-papa-owusu-ankomah"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/citifmonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/44449","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/citifmonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/citifmonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/citifmonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/14"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/citifmonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=44449"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/citifmonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/44449\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/citifmonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/44452"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/citifmonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=44449"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/citifmonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=44449"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/citifmonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=44449"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}