Timeline Lesotho
Return to home
Africanet: http://www.africanet.com/africanet/country/lesotho/home.htm
CIA Factbook: http://www.odci.gov/cia/publications/factbook/geos/lt.html
Emulate: http://www.emulateme.com/lesotho.htm
Mines2000: http://www.mines2000projects.com/html/lesotho.htm
NewAfrica: http://www.newafrica.com/history/lesotho/
Our World: http://www.isdom.com/lesotho.htm
TravelDocs: http://www.traveldocs.com/ls/index.htm
World History KLMA: www.stabi.hs-bremerhaven.de/gbs2/whkmla/
Lesotho is a small country the size of
Switzerland
and is completely surrounded by South Africa. The Basotho tribe is the
dominant group and the population is about 2 million..
(LVRJ, 11/1/97, p.14A)(WSJ, 3/25/98, p.A1)
1824 Lesotho in
was founded by the Basotho chieftain Moshoeshoe on a natural rock
fortress called Mountain of the Night.
(WSJ, 3/25/98, p.A11)
1835-1868 Lesotho acted as a buffer between the
Afrikaner’s and British colonial interests and supplied seasonal farm
workers to both.
(WSJ, 3/25/98, p.A11)(EWH, 4th ed, p.885)
1868 Lesotho was annexed by the
British.
(WSJ, 3/25/98, p.A11)
1943 May 1, British India SN
Company troop transport in convoy with 23 merchantmen and escorted by
eleven destroyers, was bound for Malta. When some 30 miles north of
Benghazi, the convoy was attacked by German bombers and torpedo
carrying aircraft. On board the Erinpura (Capt. P.V. Cotter) were 1,025
troops. One large bomb exploded in the hold sinking the ship in a
matter of minutes. Forty four crewmembers, three gunners and an
unspecified number of troops were lost. On the same day, near the
Tunisian coast, another troopship (name unknown) was torpedoed and
sank. On board were a number of troops from Basutoland (later Lesotho)
who were serving with the British Eighth Army. In this tragic sinking,
618 Basutos lost their lives.
(http://members.iinet.net.au/~gduncan/maritime-1a.html)
1963 Moshoeshoe II was crowned
king.
(LVRJ, 11/1/97, p.14A)
1966 Lesotho gained independence
from Britain.
(SFC, 7/1/97, p.A9)
1980 Apr 1, The southern African
Development Coordination Conference was established by 9 countries with
the Lusaka declaration (Angola, Botswana, Lesotho, Malawi, Mozambique,
Swaziland, Tanzania, Zambia, Zimbabwe). On August 17, 1992, it was
transformed into the Southern African Development Community. By 2008 it
included 15 members.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Southern_African_Development_Community)
1985 In South Africa 2 ANC
activists and 8 others were killed in a raid into Lesotho. A government
assassin told a court in 1996 that plans for the raid were approved by
the highest levels of Pres. Botha’s apartheid regime.
(WSJ, 9/17/96, p.A1)
1986 A project began in Lesotho to
divert freshwater from the mountains for electricity and for sale to
South Africa. The project was sponsored by the World Bank, the European
Investment Bank and the African Development Bank at a cost of $3.5
billion. The electricity proved too expensive for most people and the
water diversion wreaked environmental havoc downstream. In 2003 the
development fund raised from selling the water was shut down. Courts
convicted 3 of the world’s largest construction firms on corruption
charges.
(SFC, 12/21/07, p.A31)
1990 King Moshoeshoe II was forced
into exile after a series of 3 military coups ousted him from the
throne. His son Letsie assumed the throne.
(LVRJ, 11/1/97, p.14A)
1994 Letsie backed a palace coup
to reinstate his father as king. He ousted the first government to be
elected in a multiparty vote and temporarily assumed the throne.
(LVRJ, 11/1/97, p.14A)
1995 Jan, Letsie gave up the crown
to his returned father.
(LVRJ, 11/1/97, p.14A)
1996 Moshoeshoe II, king of
Lesotho, was killed in an automobile accident.
(LVRJ, 11/1/97, p.14A)
1997 Feb, Soldiers put down a
police mutiny in Maseru after 2 hours of shooting.
(LVRJ, 11/1/97, p.14A)
1997 Jun, Protestors in Maseru
marched against the formation of a new ruling party by Prime Minister
Ntsu Mokhehle.
(LVRJ, 11/1/97, p.14A)
1997 Oct 31, Letsie III (34) was
crowned king of Lesotho, a figurehead position.
(LVRJ, 11/1/97, p.14A)(SFC, 9/22/98, p.A7)
1998 Sep 21, In Lesotho opposition
protestors clashed with South African and Botswanan troops at the royal
palace. A faction of the Lesotho army rebelled 11 days ago and deposed
the new military leadership. They charged that the May elections swept
by the Lesotho Congress party were rigged.
(SFC, 9/22/98, p.A7)
1998 Sep 22, South African troops
poured over the border and 30 people were reported killed.
(SFC, 9/23/98, p.A12)
1998 Sep 23, Nine South Africans
and 40 rebels were killed since the SADC (Southern African Development
Community) task force entered the country to restore the government of
Prime Minister Pakalitha Mosisili. Maseru was virtually destroyed by
arson and looting that followed the military intervention. Damages were
estimated at $39 million.
(SFC, 9/24/98, p.A14)(SFC, 4/10/99, p.C14)
1998 Nov 30, Britain along with
Lesotho, Burkino Faso, the Ivory Coast and Tajikistan signed a global
treaty for an Int’l. Criminal Court to try war crimes. The accord was
approved in July at conference in Rome and 61 countries had signed on.
The court required 60 countries to pass legislation for ratification.
(SFC, 12/1/98, p.A11)
1999 Apr 9, Prime Minister
Pakalitha Mosisili announced that South Africa and Botswana would soon
pull their forces out of Lesotho following a 7 month peacekeeping
operation.
(SFC, 4/10/99, p.C14)
1999 Dec 13, Val Pringle (63),
American entertainer, was stabbed to death while confronting burglars
at his home outside Maseru. Police later arrested 2 men suspected in
the murder.
(SFC, 12/21/99, p.C8)
2003 Sep 7, Mamohato Bereng Seeiso
(62), the queen mother of the tiny mountain kingdom of Lesotho, died
after collapsing in a church outside the capital.
(AP, 9/8/03)
2004 Jan 29, Widespread drought
was reported across southern Africa. Lesotho, Malawi, South Africa and
Zimbabwe were all affected.
(SFC, 1/29/04, p.A16)
2004 Jul 15, The Gates Foundation
announced a $44.7 million award at the AIDS Conference in Bangkok to a
consortium of TB and AIDS researchers. The 2 diseases were often
linked. A UN report cited 7 countries as the hardest hit by the AIDS
pandemic: Zimbabwe, Swaziland, Lesotho, Zambia, Malawi, the Central
African Republic and Mozambique.
(WSJ, 7/15/04, p.B1)(SFC, 7/16/04, p.A6)
2004 Chris Bradshaw visited
Lesotho and became inspired to found the African Library Project:
www.africanlibraryproject.org.
(SSFC, 7/9/06, p.D2)
2005 Mar 29, It was reported that
China’s influence in Africa was expanding rapidly. Chinese projects
included the rebuilding of Nigeria’s railroad network; the paving of
roads in Rwanda; ownership of copper mines in Zambia; timber operations
in Equatorial Guinea; and supermarket operations in Lesotho.
(WSJ, 3/29/05, p.A1)
2005 Nov 24, The UN food agency
said the United States has thrown a lifeline to six southern African
countries, donating food aid valued at $45 million. The food will be
distributed across Lesotho, Malawi, Mozambique, Swaziland, Zambia and
Zimbabwe.
(AP, 11/24/05)
2006 Apr 28, Prince Harry, third
in line to the British throne, launched a charity in memory of his late
mother Princess Diana to help AIDS orphans in Lesotho.
(AP, 4/28/06)
2006 May 16, Irish rock star Bono
began a new African tour in Lesotho where he planned to unveil a new
initiative to fight AIDS in its ailing textile industry.
(AP, 5/16/06)
2006 Aug 18, In Lesotho a
14-nation southern Africa summit closed with a pledge to speed up
regional economical integration, even as leaders expressed concern
about crisis-plagued member-state Zimbabwe.
(AFP, 8/18/06)
2006 Nov 24, In Lesotho Samuella
Jacobina Verwey (36), a Dutch aid worker with the Clinton Foundation,
was shot to death at the house of Mpho Malie, Lesotho's trade and
industry minister. Malie is seen as a major contender for the
leadership of the ruling Lesotho Congress for Democracy after the
current leader, PM Pakalitha Mosisili, quits.
(AP, 11/25/06)
2007 Feb 17, Lesotho held
elections. The ruling party, which has brought stability to the
mountain kingdom, faced a new rival set up on a platform of change.
(AP, 2/17/07)
2007 The population of Lesotho
stood at about 1.8 million and almost one of 4 adults had HIV/AIDS.
Lesotho’s textile industry, the only industry to speak of, employed
some 45,000.
(Econ, 6/30/07, p.56)(Econ, 7/21/07, p.61)
2008 Jul 16, The United States
signed a pair of agreements to boost trade and investment ties with
countries in southern and eastern Africa. These included the Trade,
Investment and Development Cooperation Agreement with the Southern
Africa Customs Union (SACU), which includes Botswana, Lesotho, Namibia,
South Africa and Swaziland; and the Trade Investment and Framework
Agreement (TIFA) with the East African Community, which includes
Burundi, Kenya, Rwanda, Tanzania and Uganda.
(Reuters, 7/17/08)
2008 Sep 8, Miners in the southern
African kingdom of Lesotho found one of the world's largest diamonds, a
near-flawless white gem weighing nearly 500 carats.
(Reuters, 9/21/08)
Go to http://www.timelinesdb.com
Subject = Lesotho
End of file.