Lesotho, 1990 — military coup conspiracy
Event Summary
This entry is coded 19 February 1990, corresponding to the February 1990 power struggle in Lesotho in which the military ruler Major General Justin Metsing Lekhanya stripped King Moshoeshoe II of his executive and legislative powers, purged the Council of Ministers, and forced the king into exile. Lekhanya had led the January 1986 coup that ousted Prime Minister Leabua Jonathan, after which state powers were vested in the king acting on the advice of a Military Council chaired by Lekhanya. By February 1990 a bitter struggle had developed within this monarch-military alliance, triggered when the king opposed Lekhanya's demand to dismiss and arrest four military council members accused of insubordination and obstructing justice.
Lekhanya accused those involved of undermining discipline within the armed forces, subverting existing authority, and causing a foreign-policy impasse damaging to Lesotho's image, and in March 1990 he escorted Moshoeshoe to the border to board a plane into exile in Britain. The king was officially dethroned in November 1990 and replaced by his son, installed as King Letsie III. The 19 February 1990 coding matches this February 1990 seizure of the king's powers.
Researched Details
Researched
Independent research, added record by record. Hover any label for what it means.
Sources
Editorial Note
Cross-Reference
Only one dataset carries it. One of the three reference datasets we check against carries this event; the others do not list it. That is not a contradiction — the datasets cover different periods and use different thresholds — but it means the record has had less outside corroboration.
Identifiers for finding this same event in the other datasets:
- Cline Center id
57002191990
How the match is made is described in crossref-report.md.
Outcome and Target
Coup Atlas research identifies the target as: Lekhanya prevailed and exiled the king, but was himself ousted in a 1991 coup.
Baseline coding: Plot discovered and disrupted before execution. Recorded leader fate: remained in office; not physically harmed. The baseline file does not name individual targets; researched names are kept in a separate layer.
Baseline Dataset Citation
Baseline Source-Document Entries
CSP
New York Times
This is the citation trail carried by the baseline dataset, grouped by outlet and rejoined from the line-wrapped original. Coup Atlas has not independently re-checked every document; read the original before citing a specific claim. URLs the import damaged beyond safe repair are shown as plain text and listed in citations-report.md. How this list is built →