Lesotho's deadlocked political parties failed to meet today's deadline for a fresh peace deal, prompting South Africa to call an emergency meeting of regional leaders.
After promising South African President Jacob Zuma that they would decide by Friday when to re-open Lesotho's parliament, rival leaders failed to resolve a crisis sparked two weeks ago by an aborted coup.
Reopening the legislature -- which was shuttered in June -- is seen as a key step toward restoring normality in the tiny mountainous state.
On August 30, an attempted coup by renegade general Tlali Kamoli saw the military assault several police stations prompting the prime minister to flee the country.
One Lesotho police officer was killed, and nine others injured in the unrest.
Prime Minister Tom Thabane has since returned, protected by South African guards, but a Pretoria-brokered peace deal quickly disintegrated.
Today rival party leaders failed to patch up their difference, instead calling for the 15-member Southern African Development Community (SADC) to step in.
"How can you open your own parliament when you still have foreign troops here, protecting you?" asked Thesele Maseribane, one of those who fled and is now under foreign guard.
"Everyone's interested in parliament, but what about what recently happened here? This is not a movie. This is reality. This was an attempted coup."
Deputy Prime Minister Mothetjoa Metsing's Lesotho Congress for Democracy (LCD) party has been blamed along with Kamoli for the putsch.
Kamoli has refused a prime ministerial order to resign and has apparently raided government armouries in preparation for a showdown.
His allies have warned of a "bloodbath" if he is forcibly removed.
The SADC has so far been willing to play mediator, but rebuffed calls by some Lesotho leaders for military intervention, pressing instead for a political resolution.
Zuma visited Lesotho this week to try to end the stand-off, but his Deputy President Cyril Ramaphosa was to travel to the country again Friday.
A SADC troika will meet next week to discuss the crisis.
Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe -- who currently holds the rotating chairmanship of the bloc -- said a full 15-member summit will be held on Wednesday in Pretoria.
