Southern African Development Community leaders on Friday night's established an urgent independent commission of inquiry into the killing of Lesotho’s former army chief Brigadier Maaparankoe Mahao near Maseru eight days ago.
Lesotho Prime Minister Pakalitha Mosisili said after the SADEC summit in Johannesburt that the terms of reference of the commission of inquiry would include the question of whether the controversial current army commander General Tlali Kamoli should have been reappointed to his position earlier this year.
Lesotho opposition parties and members of civil society have pointed fingers at Kamoli as being responsible for the death of Mahao and other violence.
The two soldiers were bitter rivals.
The terms of reference included a call on the government of the Kingdom of Lesotho and all political stakeholders to urgently undertake constitutional and security sector reforms, assisted by SADC.
The Summit decided, as a matter of urgency, to establish an independent Commission of Inquiry into the circumstances surrounding the death of Brigadier Mahao, and its deployment with immediate effect.
An independent pathologist will also be sent to conduct an examination, as requested by the Prime Minister of Lesotho within a period of 72 hours.
Basotho National Party deputy leader Joang Molapo on Friday protested outside the Deparment of International Relations of Cooperation where the SADEC meeting was held.
He said they want the issues around Kamoli to be dealt with urgently.
