Fighting from the Nebulous Space of Exile: The Lesotho Liberation Army and its Impact and Legacy on Lesotho’s Political State

In the early 1980s the Lesotho Liberation Army (LLA), the military wing of the exiled Basutoland Congress Party (BCP), waged an armed struggle against the then authoritarian Lesotho state. However, the LLA was mainly perceived as being a proxy force for the South African apartheid regime’s attempts to destabilise frontline states as a component of its ‘Total Strategy’. This dominant, prescriptive narrative has limited further understandings of the LLA. This article moves beyond these perceptions to demonstrate that the LLA was more than a proxy force. The LLA’s activities seemed to defy easy categorisation as they existed in the nebulous space between the ‘un-national’ and the transnational. However, LLA fighters were motivated to pursue a course of retribution for the wrongs they experienced from state violence. The LLA was able to pressure the ruling regime, even though it was an internal military coup in 1986 which finally overturned the government. The subsequent shift in relations between Lesotho and South Africa made the exiled BCP’s position untenable and negotiations for their return commenced. However, internal schisms within the LLA led one faction within the Transkei to pursue their own path home by attempting a failed bus hijacking during Pope John Paul II’s visit to Maseru in 1988. The BCP’s weak negotiating position led to the LLA being de-militarised but not merged into the Lesotho army. This turn of events and the difficult reintegration of LLA fighters into society has contributed to the overall instability and violence that has characterised Lesotho ever since.