Lesotho’s first-ever coalition government has collapsed and neighbor South Africa, observing unusual movements of the Lesotho Defence Force Units in the capital, Maseru, has warned against any unconstitutional change of government, AFP and News24 report.

A 2012 pact between three political parties that gave birth to the country’s first-ever coalition government has collapsed, Maseru Times reported, plunging the kingdom into political uncertainty.

Completely surrounded by South Africa, the landlocked Kingdom of Lesotho has a population of two million-plus in an area 30,000 square kilometers (11583 square miles).

South Africa has intervened several times in the past in Lesotho.

Deputy Prime Minister Mothetjoa Metsing, who is also leader of the Lesotho Congress for Democracy, blamed the collapse of the political pact on Prime Minister Thomas Thabane, leader of the All Basotho Convention. Metsing said Thabane constantly made unilateral decisions that excluded coalition partners.

The third partner, the Lesotho Congress for Democracy has vowed to forge a new coalition and oust Prime Minister Thomas Thabane.

The political pact was formed in June 2012 after a general election in May 2012 failed to produce a single party with a majority win of parliamentary seats.

Emergency talks were underway on Thursday to determine the future of the coalition government, with suggestions of a possible coup and fears of a return to political violence, AFP reported in Mail & Guardian.

The three major parties held crisis talks in Maseru mediated by the Christian Council of Lesotho.

Thabane has temporarily suspended parliament, with the blessing of the king, allowing him to dodge a vote of no confidence.

The stand-off prompted a warning from South Africa.

“The South African government notes with concern the unfolding political and security situation in the Kingdom of Lesotho which has resulted in the prorogation of the country’s Parliament,” Pretoria said in a statement Thursday. “The South African government has further noted with grave concern the unusual movements of the Lesotho Defence Force Units in the capital, Maseru.”

South Africa said it “will not tolerate any unconstitutional change of government in the region and continent.”

An AFP reporter in Maseru said the streets were calm and people were going about their normal business.

Lesotho has had previous coups and intervention from its neighbor. In 1986 South
Africa’s apartheid government instigated a coup in Lesotho to prevent the country from being used as a base by the African National Congress and other activists, AFP reports. In 1998, following election riots, South Africa and Botswana embarked on an ill-fated invasion that reduced the capital to rubble.

In recent decades there have been a series of attempted political assassinations. But the last elections in 2012 passed peacefully, with three major parties forging the coalition, AFP reports.

The name Lesotho translates roughly into the land of  the people who speak Sotho. About 40 percent of the population lives on less than $1.25 a day, according to U.N. reports.