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Pretoria - The South African government said on Saturday Lesotho's army appeared to have staged a coup d'etat, and added that an unconstitutional change of government would not be tolerated by the region.
"By all accounts the actions of the Lesotho defence force bear the hallmarks of a coup d'etat," international relations and co-operation spokesperson Clayson Monyela told reporters.
Monyela said no individual or body had claimed to have taken over the government. "The situation is still unfolding," he said, adding South Africa urged the coalition leaders to settle their differences peacefully.
The Commonwealth, most of whose member states are former British colonies, also condemned the reported coup.
"There is zero tolerance in the Commonwealth of any unconstitutional overthrow of an elected government," Commonwealth Secretary-General Kamalesh Sharma said in a statement sent to Reuters.
