Lesotho election: Tom Thabane's ABC 'to form coalition'

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Lesotho's opposition parties say they have formed a coalition government after Sunday's inconclusive election.

The leader of the All Basotho Convention, Tom Thabane told the BBC that he had reached an agreement with the Lesotho Congress for Democracy and two smaller parties.

"We are going to have a vast majority in parliament," Mr Thabane said.

Prime Minister Pakalitha Mosisili failed to win an absolute majority in the weekend parliamentary election.

Mr Mosisili took control of the country in fiercely contested elections in 1998.

Then post-election wrangling led to clashes on the streets and brought about a military intervention by South Africa and Botswana to restore order.

On Tuesday there were reports of some Basotho troops on the streets of the capital, Maseru, but the situation is reported to be calm.

Mr Thabane told the BBC's Network Africa programme that his main concerns were would be: "Poverty, lack of jobs, lack of school opportunities, absence of schools at the right places, lack of proper infrastructure, particularly health services.

"We have gone way below what we were a few years ago, and that's inexplicable," said Mr Thabane.

"We put power in the hands of the wrong people and we are taking it away from them."

The tiny, mountainous kingdom of two million people is entirely surrounded by South Africa.

It won independence from Britain in 1966, but has suffered several military coups since then.