The government of the mountain kingdom of Lesotho agreed yesterday to the appointment of a regional committee to investigate opposition allegations of electoral fraud, defusing a political crisis which had turned violent.
The agreement between the government and its opponents was reached after talks brokered by the South African Deputy President, Mr Thabo Mbeki, who flew to Lesotho yesterday in a bid to stem the worsening crisis in the impoverished country.
Earlier a week-long protest by hundreds of supporters of three opposition parties - involving a round-the-clock vigil outside the palace of Lesotho's monarch, King Letsie III - turned violent after calls by the parties for a national strike yesterday. One person was killed in Maseru.
Mr Mbeki told reporters that the agreement called for a team of experts from South Africa, Botswana and Zimbabwe.
Mr Mbeki was accompanied by the Foreign Affairs Minister, Mr Alfred Nzo, and the Defence Minister, Mr Joe Modise.
Witnesses said the army seemed to have regained control of the situation after armed youths had barricaded main roads leading into the tiny capital from the north and south. But the mood remained tense after clashes, they said.
Patrick Laurence writes from Johannesburg: The demonstrations, organised by three opposition parties, sought to persuade the young monarch to annul the May election which resulted in a sweeping victory for the ruling Lesotho Congress for Democracy (LCD).
Even before the election, however, the LCD was the focal point of controversy. It was formed last year when the former prime minister, Mr Ntsu Mokhehle, facing a challenge to his authority in the Basotho Congress Party (BCP), lead a majority of parliamentarians to found the LCD.
In May, the LCD under its new leader, Mr Mosisile, swept to power, winning all but one of the 80 seats in the National Assembly.
The extent of the victory surprised most observers as the LCD left behind a powerful opposition force in the BCP, which retained control of more than one-third of the sitting parliamentarians.
The LCD was opposed by two parties, the Basotho National Party and the Marematlou Freedom Party. Observer missions from the Commonwealth and the Southern African Development Community declared the election fair at the time.
However, an audit of six constituencies, conducted by a South African investigating company at the behest of opposition parties, has produced evidence of anomalies on the voters' register. Suspicions in opposition circles that the vote was rigged were reinforced after the Lesotho High Court ruled that the opposition parties had the right to information which had been withheld from them by Lesotho's independent election commission.
According to unofficial reports, recounting of the votes in more than half the constituencies on the basis of the information obtained by opposition parties shows that the LDC actually won about a third of the seats, instead of almost completely sweeping the board.