Lesotho: Death in the Hills

In the remoter corners of the landlocked southern African state of Lesotho, the fastest means of communication is a yell across the mountainous kingdom's multitudinous valleys. Last week those cries brought word to Maseru, the capital, that an all-out guerrilla war seemed to be brewing in the rugged Maluti Mountains of the north.

Lesotho, formerly Basutoland, has a population of 1,000,000, almost entirely black, and is totally surrounded by and dependent upon South Africa. The country has been a shaky proposition ever since Britain granted it independence in 1966. South Africa has backed Lesotho, largely because it represents the sort of...

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