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MASERU. — Lesotho’s parliament is due to reconvene today, the first step of a peace deal aimed at resolving weeks of crisis sparked by an attempted military coup.
With security concerns ongoing, the 120-member legislature will reconvene four months after Prime Minister Tom Thabane suspended it to dodge a no-confidence vote that would likely have seen him kicked out of power.

“It’s a milestone,” says Tumisang Mosotho, a senior advisor to Thabane. “We want to hope this is the first step in the right direction, in liberating our country from the danger that has surrounded us these past few months.”

On August 30 Thabane fled the tiny kingdom, entirely surrounded by South Africa, hours before the military attacked police installations, in what was seen as part of an orchestrated putsch.

Just hours before he had fired Lesotho Defence Force commander, Lieutenant General Tlali Kamoli, who still refuses to relinquish his command.

Thabane returned accompanied by police from the 15-nation Sadc, which has since hammered out a peace deal among Lesotho’s sparring factions.

Setting out that deal Sadc’s chief mediator, South African deputy president Cyril Ramaphosa, announced that the parliament would begin preparing fresh elections for February 2015. Crucially, the opposition agreed not to mount a no-confidence vote against Thabane. Instead, they allowed the parliament to re-open and to pass a budget, then officially dissolve in order for the country to prepare for early elections. — AFP.