Lesotho promises not to hand over S.A. refugees

Press, 25 January 1986, Page 10

Lesotho promises not to hand over S.A. refugees

NZPA-Reuter Nairobi Lesotho’s new military rulers said yesterday that refugees from South Africa would be flown out of the country as quickly as possible but would not be handed over to the South African authorities. The statement, from the Military Council which seized power this week, was broadcast by the State-run Radio Lesotho, monitored by the British Braodcasting Corporation. The downfall of Lesotho’s autocratic Prime Minister, Chief Leabua Jonathan, followed intense South African pressure over the presence of anti-apartheid South Africans, regarded

by Lesotho as refugees and by Pretoria as guerrillas. The Military Council’s statement said the African National Congress — the main black nationalist guerrilla group fighting white rule in South Africa — was helping to speed up the airlift of “A.N.C. refugees." So was the United Nations High Commission for Refugees. The statement was the first explicit announcement of the new Government’s policy in the dispute with South Africa which, since the coup, has eased its security clampdown on the borders of Lesotho, which it surrounds. Lesotho Radio said:

“The Lesotho Military Council has informed the U.N. Secretary-General, Javier Perez de Cuellar, that as a result of the border closure between Lesotho and South Africa the country was passing through a very difficult period with shortages of essential supplies. “The council also said that arrangements were being made by the U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees in Maseru and the A.N.C. to speed up the airlifting of the A.N.C. refugees to other countries as quickly as possible.

“It has categorically refuted speculation that Lesotho might hand over her refugees to South Africa.”