The Southern African Development Community (SADC) Organ on Politics, Defence and Security Cooperation (OPDSC), has called for a peaceful power transition in Lesotho after murder-accused Prime Minister Thomas Thabane, stepped down on Tuesday.
Four SADC leaders who took part in a security meeting on Mozambique said they had taken note of Thabane’s resignation, and called for a peaceful transfer of power.
The SADC Organ on Politics, Defence and Security is made up of the leaders of Zimbabwe, Botswana and Zambia. The troika said in a communique:
The Extraordinary Organ Troika Summit plus Mozambique noted the latest developments in the Kingdom of Lesotho and called for the peaceful transfer of power in line with the Constitution of the Kingdom of Lesotho.
Thabane has been under pressure from his party to resign after being implicated in the murder of his estranged wife in 2017.
Thabane and his co-accused, his current wife, have both denied the murder charge.
Meanwhile, South Africa is mediating the Lesotho crisis on behalf of SADC.