Gen. Justin Lekhanya, the head of Lesotho's new military government, moved today to consolidate relations with neighboring South Africa and negotiate an end to a three-week blockade of his country.
Lekhanya also relaxed a dusk-to-dawn curfew during his first public address since seizing power in a bloodless coup Monday and promised 'true national reconciliation.'
Evaristus Sekhonyana, the only Cabinet minister known to have been retained from the defeated government, led a delegationtoday to Cape Town, where he met for two hours with South African Foreign Minister Roelof Botha.
Lesotho Radio said Sekhonyana, a former foreign minister, hoped to secure an end to South Africa's crippling three-week border blockade, which was imposed Jan. 1 to halt alleged guerrilla infiltration from Lesotho.
A joint statement released on his return to Maseru said the two had exchanged views 'on matters of importance to both countries which could hopefully lead to a lessening of tension.'
The ministers 'emphasized the need to work actively for the promotion of good neighborliness,' the statement added. No further details were released.
Lekhanya personally held secret talks with Botha in Pretoria on Friday, less than 60 hours before the coup that toppled self-proclaimed Prime Minister Leabua Jonathan after 20 years in power.
South Africa employs more than half the adult men native to Lesotho, a small mountain kingdom entirely surrounded by its white-ruled neighbor.
In Maseru, residents today said the streets were calm and soldiers were maintaining a low-key presence.
'You would never guess that this is a country 24 hours into a new military rule,' said a diplomat who declined to be named.
Lesotho radio announced early Monday Lekhanya and the military council had toppled Jonathan, who had ruled the mountain kingdom, which is about the size of Maryland, since 1966. The broadcast said Lekhanya would rule in association with King Moshoeshoe II, the nation's constitutional and tribal monarch.
Western diplomats who attended an hourlong briefing at the Foreign Ministry in Maseru Monday said all Jonathan's Cabinet ministers had been dismissed.
They described Lekhanya as a pragmatic soldier, without known politics, and a loyal supporter of the king.
Hours after Lekhanya took control a six-truck convoy crossed into Lesotho, delivering the first fuel and food supplies to the country since Jan. 1, when South Africa imposed a crippling border blockade.
Monday's coup followed months of conflict between Lekhanya's soldiers and armed members of Jonathan's ruling party. As many as 17 people were reported killed Friday outside Maseru.
Residents of Maseru said scores of people danced in the streets Monday to celebrate the coup. Women raised their voices in a traditional welcome and youngsters tore national flags to symbolize their rejection of Jonathan.
South Africa sealed off the borders of Lesotho Jan. 1 after accusing Jonathan's government of allowing African National Congress guerrillas to use the country as a staging area for attacks into South Africa.
But Botha said the border clampdown was not aimed at preventing goods from entering Lesotho, which is surrounded by South Africa. He said it was imposed to screen border traffic for weapons, bombs and members of the African National Congress, which is waging a guerrilla war to end minority white rule in South Africa.
