Lesotho

JOHANNESBURG, South Africa -- With the death toll mounting in the mountain kingdom of Lesotho, South Africa's first post-apartheid military operation on foreign soil ran into wide criticism yesterday as an ill-considered, poorly executed mission.There has been more bloodshed, destruction and disorder since South African troops entered the neighboring country Tuesday than in the previous four months of crisis in Lesotho over %J allegations of ballot-rigging in May elections.The death toll reached 49 yesterday, including eight South African soldiers, with dozens injured as the troops met stiffer than expected resistance from the Lesotho army.

When he was 13 years old, Sunny Jane decided to leave his home country of Lesotho and move to the United States to advance his soccer career. Last Sunday, Jane took another step along that path as he contributed two goals and an assist as the second-seeded Terps cruised to a 5-1 victory over Coastal Carolina in the NCAA tournament. The win secured a trip to the quarterfinals and a rematch against Louisville on Saturday at 5 p.m. in College Park. The matchup with the Cardinals is particularly interesting for Jane because his first trip to the College Cup hinges on beating a college from Kentucky, the state in which he settled after coming to the country.

UNDER WHITE supremacy, South Africa was a military bully. It conducted overt and covert operations throughout the region, from A(ngola) to Z(ambia), raiding strongholds of Nelson Mandela's outlawed African National Congress and killing exiled leaders.Meanwhile, South African white mercenaries -- with or without official Pretoria's blessings -- staged coup attempts. Their favorite targets were such distant Indian Ocean island paradises as the Seychelles and the Comoros.The ANC put an end to this kind of adventurism when it came to power four years ago. But this week, South Africa dispatched hundreds of troops, backed by artillery and airpower, to neighboring Lesotho to prop up the kingdom's embattled prime minister against a minor mutiny.

Last month, the House of Representatives showed leadership in the fight against global poverty by passing the Jubilee Act for Responsible Lending and Expanded Debt Cancellation, which would extend lifesaving debt cancellation to more poor nations around the globe. Too many of the world's poor children needlessly starve or go without education because too many impoverished nations - even after the laudable debt relief provided to date - are still funneling scarce resources to multilateral banks instead of paying for needs at home.

JOHANNESBURG, South Africa -- South Africa's first post-apartheid military operation on foreign soil -- the intervention in neighboring Lesotho -- is proving a chastening one.The death toll stands at 66, with dozens more injured. Property damage amounts to millions of dollars. The political crisis that provoked the intervention is as grave as ever, with first the opposition, then the government, refusing to talk to each other.And South Africans now face the most difficult issue of all -- when and how to withdraw from a mess, in large part, of their own making.

JOHANNESBURG, South Africa -- South Africa, in its first post-apartheid military intervention, yesterday sent troops to end political unrest in the South African-encircled mountain kingdom of Lesotho.Five South African soldiers were killed and 11 wounded as they met strong resistance while taking control of military bases in the independent country. Unconfirmed reports said 16 Lesotho soldiers were killed, with up to 50 civilians injured.About 700 South Africans troops secured the royal palace, home of King Letsie III, the parliamentary building, the central business district and the residential area favored by politicians and diplomats, according to the defense ministry in Pretoria.

LEPOLESA, Lesotho - In years past, Alina Molaoa would have spent May harvesting corn from her fields and vegetables from her garden. This year, the cornfields lie fallow; the garden is a dusty patch of dirt. Barely able to stand, she cannot work the land. Her story is the story of much of this southern African country: Molaoa, a 47-year-old widow, is weakened by AIDS. And the country, where one in three adults is infected by HIV, lacks enough able-bodied farm workers to plant or harvest its crops.

MASERU, Lesotho - Residents of this southern African kingdom already know what Americans will be wearing this summer. In the capital's industrial zone set in the foothills of the Maluti Mountains, Raytex Garments' 600 employees sit hunched over sewing machines stitching blue and yellow baseball shirts for the shelves of Gap stores in the United States. Nearby, J&S Fashions is producing a line of knit pants and tops for Wal-Mart and Kmart. And on the factory floor of Nien Hsing International, several thousand workers are cutting and sewing ribbons of denim fabric into a fresh supply of America's fashion staple - blue jeans.

LIFELEKOANENG, Lesotho --Every day he cooks porridge for his siblings, sees them off to school and gets them to bed. He tracks his 8-year-old brother's recovery from tuberculosis. He deals with misbehavior like his 11-year-old sister's theft of a neighbor's chicken. "I feel like an adult," Rapelang Ntsane said, gazing vacantly at the houses scattered around this windswept village in southern Africa, "because every problem here at home has been tackled by me." Rapelang is 15 years old. Disheveled, shoeless and gloomy about life's cruelty, he gamely tries to maintain some household order, if not much comfort or cleanliness, for his little sister and brother.

Lifelekoaneng, Lesotho-- --She sat staring at me, her gaze more vacant than hard. Numb, maybe. Her feet were a dirty whitish, as if caked in chalk. A breeze rushed through the broken windows of her little house, billowing the tattered curtains. Her last meal, a bowl of porridge eaten the previous afternoon, was but a memory. It was almost noon. "Are you hungry?" I asked Itumeleng Ntsane, an AIDS orphan who had just turned 13. The answer was obvious before she nodded and quietly said yes. How could this happen, I wondered.

HA NOHANA, Lesotho -- Teboho Mahate was shivering. He had trouble keeping his balance. He couldn't talk, and he had bitten his tongue. A seizure. "Any pain anywhere?" asked Dr. Jennifer Furin. Teboho, 14, held his head. Furin looked into his eyes, checking for dilated pupils. She turned him on his side and, in English along with a few words in this nation's native Sesotho, told him to lie in a fetal position. He barely quivered as she slipped in a needle for a spinal tap. The diagnosis: life-threatening meningitis.

Lifelekoaneng, Lesotho-- --She sat staring at me, her gaze more vacant than hard. Numb, maybe. Her feet were a dirty whitish, as if caked in chalk. A breeze rushed through the broken windows of her little house, billowing the tattered curtains. Her last meal, a bowl of porridge eaten the previous afternoon, was but a memory. It was almost noon. "Are you hungry?" I asked Itumeleng Ntsane, an AIDS orphan who had just turned 13. The answer was obvious before she nodded and quietly said yes. How could this happen, I wondered.

BOBETE, Lesotho -- The flight to this remote mountain village went smoothly until the very end, when a flock of sheep decided to run onto the grassy airstrip - straight into the path of a rapidly descending Cessna 206 Turbo. "Dumb sheep," growled pilot Tim Vennell. Maneuvering quickly, he kept the single-engine plane aloft 150 feet farther than usual, something he'd rather not do on a strip just 1,800 feet long and nearly a mile and a half above sea level. Seconds later, the six-seater landed, and out hopped a nurse and two trainers for caregivers of the terminally ill. And so, Vennell's Idaho-based Mission Aviation Fellowship once again did its part in a growing battle against the HIV/AIDS scourge in this battered southern African nation.

LIFELEKOANENG, Lesotho --Every day he cooks porridge for his siblings, sees them off to school and gets them to bed. He tracks his 8-year-old brother's recovery from tuberculosis. He deals with misbehavior like his 11-year-old sister's theft of a neighbor's chicken. "I feel like an adult," Rapelang Ntsane said, gazing vacantly at the houses scattered around this windswept village in southern Africa, "because every problem here at home has been tackled by me." Rapelang is 15 years old. Disheveled, shoeless and gloomy about life's cruelty, he gamely tries to maintain some household order, if not much comfort or cleanliness, for his little sister and brother.

LEPOLESA, Lesotho - In years past, Alina Molaoa would have spent May harvesting corn from her fields and vegetables from her garden. This year, the cornfields lie fallow; the garden is a dusty patch of dirt. Barely able to stand, she cannot work the land. Her story is the story of much of this southern African country: Molaoa, a 47-year-old widow, is weakened by AIDS. And the country, where one in three adults is infected by HIV, lacks enough able-bodied farm workers to plant or harvest its crops.

MAKOABATING, Lesotho - High in Lesotho's Maluti Mountains, Bokang Letsoela wakes at dawn in a stone hut, pulls a woolen blanket around his shoulders and steps into the thin, frosty morning air to begin another day as a sheepherder. Bokang cannot read or write, add or subtract. He has never set foot in a school. But like any shepherd managing a flock, he has learned how to count. These are some of the numbers his life has taught him: Five: The number of sheep he guards on a windy mountainside, where snow can fall even on summer days, where snakes populate the tall grass and where armed bandits are always a threat.

Last month, the House of Representatives showed leadership in the fight against global poverty by passing the Jubilee Act for Responsible Lending and Expanded Debt Cancellation, which would extend lifesaving debt cancellation to more poor nations around the globe. Too many of the world's poor children needlessly starve or go without education because too many impoverished nations - even after the laudable debt relief provided to date - are still funneling scarce resources to multilateral banks instead of paying for needs at home.

Ntsu Mokhehle, a former prime minister considered the most influential politician in modern Lesotho, died Wednesday after falling ill in Maseru, Lesotho, two weeks ago during celebrations to mark his 80th birthday.Charles Francis Adams, 88, retired chairman of Raytheon Co. and a descendant of Presidents John Adams and John Quincy Adams, died Tuesday in Dover, Mass.Jose Vela Zanetti, 85, a Spanish painter best known for his mural depicting human rights at United Nations headquarters in New York, died Monday in Madrid.

MASERU, Lesotho - Residents of this southern African kingdom already know what Americans will be wearing this summer. In the capital's industrial zone set in the foothills of the Maluti Mountains, Raytex Garments' 600 employees sit hunched over sewing machines stitching blue and yellow baseball shirts for the shelves of Gap stores in the United States. Nearby, J&S Fashions is producing a line of knit pants and tops for Wal-Mart and Kmart. And on the factory floor of Nien Hsing International, several thousand workers are cutting and sewing ribbons of denim fabric into a fresh supply of America's fashion staple - blue jeans.

Ntsu Mokhehle, a former prime minister considered the most influential politician in modern Lesotho, died Wednesday after falling ill in Maseru, Lesotho, two weeks ago during celebrations to mark his 80th birthday.Charles Francis Adams, 88, retired chairman of Raytheon Co. and a descendant of Presidents John Adams and John Quincy Adams, died Tuesday in Dover, Mass.Jose Vela Zanetti, 85, a Spanish painter best known for his mural depicting human rights at United Nations headquarters in New York, died Monday in Madrid.