Africa-Press – Lesotho. The Double Troika Summit of the Heads of State and Government of the Southern African Development Community (SADC) was held in the Republic of South Africa Pretoria on 15th September to discuss the Lesotho security issues.
According to the SADC final communique, the summit was convened following the assassination of Lieutenant General (Lt Gen) Khoantle Motšomotšo, Commander of the Lesotho Defense Force (LDF) on 5th September 2017,and upon the assassination, the chairperson of the Organ on Politics Defense and Security Cooperation, His Excellency José Eduardo dos Santos, President of the Republic of Angola, immediately sent a Ministerial Fact Finding Mission to the Kingdom of Lesotho to assess the circumstances surrounding the assassination of Lt Gen Motšomotšo.
SADC states that the summit noted an urgent need to assist the Kingdom of Lesotho in restoring law and order, and a peaceful environment conducive to among others, the implementation of SADC decisions specifically, Security Sector and Constitutional Reforms, as well as the recommendations of the Commission of Inquiry received a report of the Ministerial Fact Finding Mission.
The Summit also noted the volatile security situation and its implications for the political stability of the Kingdom of Lesotho. SADC says it strongly condemned the brutal assassination of Lt Gen Motšomotšo, and expressed condolences to the family of the late LDF Commander, the Government and people of the Kingdom of Lesotho over the unfortunate incident and urged the government to expedite investigations into the assassinations of Brig Mahao and Lt.
Gen Motšomotšo. The summit further approved the deployment of a Contingent Force comprising military, security, intelligence and civilian experts to support the Government of the Kingdom of Lesotho, and directed the Chiefs of Defense and Security to assess the requirements, determine the appropriate size of the Contingent, and to prepare the modalities for the deployment.
In the interim, Summit also approved an expanded mandate and composition of a total of 34 members of the Oversight Committee to include military, security, intelligence and civilian experts to be deployed to Lesotho immediately for a period of a month and commended the Government of Angola, the Chairperson of the Organ on Politics Defense and Security Cooperation, H.
E José Eduardo Dos Santos for his 3prompt action, and generosity in facilitating the fact finding mission to the Kingdom of Lesotho The Summit also took the opportunity to thank the chairperson of SADC, Jacob Zuma, President of the Republic of South Africa for hosting the Double Troika Summit and for the warm hospitality extended to all delegations.
Thomas Lesotho Prime Minister Dr Motsoahae Thomas Thabane also attended the Double Troika Summit with among others the SADC Facilitator to the Kingdom of Lesotho, Deputy President of the Republic of South Africa, Cyril Ramaphosa and the Executive Secretary of SADC, Dr Stergomena Lawrence Tax.
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