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Periodical article Periodical article Leiden University catalogue Leiden University catalogue WorldCat catalogue WorldCat
Title:The challenges of the South African military intervention in Lesotho after the 1998 elections
Author:Makoa, Francis K.
Year:1999
Periodical:Lesotho Social Sciences Review (ISSN 1028-0790)
Volume:5
Issue:1
Period:June
Pages:83-109
Language:English
Notes:biblio. refs.
Geographic terms:Lesotho
South Africa
Southern Africa
Subjects:military intervention
politics
Political crisis
Conflict management
South Africa. National Defence Force
Intervention (International law)
elections
Abstract:On 22 September 1998 South Africa intervened militarily in Lesotho's elections dispute, brutally ending a sit-in protest staged by the country's main oppositon parties. The intervention took place in response to a request made by Lesotho's Prime Minister Mosisili. This paper assesses South Africa's argument that it intervened in Lesotho to restore democracy, bringing into focus the consequences of this intervention and the challenges that it poses for the Pretoria regime. It rejects at the outset South Africa's claim that the Mosisili government was an innocent victim of what have been variously dubbed anti-democratic forces. Nor does in uncritically accept what many analysts present as explanations for Lesotho's recurrent crisis. It argues the contrary, that is, that Mosisili's regime fanned the crisis by trivializing - later with South Africa's approval and encouragement - the legitimate complaints of the kingdom's opposition political parties. Ref., sum.
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