LESOTHO AND LIBYA RELATIONS (C-AL6-00526)

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 MASERU 000184 SIPDIS NOFORN SIPDIS DEPT FOR INR/I; ALSO FOR AF/S E.O. 12958: DECL: 4/13/2016 TAGS: PINR PREL LT LY SUBJECT: LESOTHO AND LIBYA RELATIONS (C-AL6-00526) REF: STATE 51978 CLASSIFIED BY: JUNE CARTER PERRY, AMBASSADOR, EXEC, STATE. REASON: 1.4 (b),(d) CLASSIFIED BY: JUNE CARTER PERRY, AMBASSADOR, EXEC, STATE. REASON: 1.4 (b),(d) ¶1. (C/NF) We appreciate INR's interest in the relationship between the Libyan Embassy in Maseru and the Government of Lesotho (GOL). Ambassador had a lengthy meeting April 6 with Libyan Ambassador Mohamed Algamudi at his residence. ¶2. (C/NF) The Libyan envoy's wife and daughter prepared an elaborate buffet of North African dishes, traditional coffee and juices to welcome the U.S. Ambassador. During our discussion (interrupted by occasional appearances of his family, including a one year old grandson),Algamudi stated that he had a long standing friendship with the LCD's Minister of Communications, Thomas Thabane. He related that when he arrived in Lesotho in 2001, he was faced with the task of locating a property and establishing their resident diplomatic mission in Maseru. According to Algamudi, he was warmly received by both Prime Minister Mosisili and Minister Thabane, who at the time was the GOL's Foreign Minister. Thabane offered to locate a chancery building for the Libyans and had actually turned over the current facility to the Libyan People's Bureau. Since that time, Algamudi indicated he and Thabane have been very close and he (Algamudi) facilitated the Minister's travel to Tripoli and the opening of a Lesotho Mission in Libya. Algamudi was also involved in organizing a visit by Prime Minister Mosisili to Tripoli. ¶3. (C/NF) We asked Ambassador Algamudi about his views on the January 29 shooting of Lesotho Foreign Minister, since the Foreign Minister had shared with us his opinion that both Thabane and the Libyan envoy were involved in this attack. Algamudi was firm in his defense of Thabane. He denied that there would be any rationale for the Minister of Communications to have orchestrated such an attack. He based his analysis on the fact that Thabane has been present in every government since Lesotho's independence nearly 40 years ago and that it would be foolish for him to engage in internal political warfare within the government. Algamudi posited that FOMIN Moleleki has known Thabane for many years and that although Moleleki represents the younger generation, it would be against his own interest to have a conflict with Thabane. ¶4. (C/NF) Regarding Libya's potential involvement in this attack, Algamudi did not address this issue directly; however, he did state that as Dean of the Diplomatic Corps, he had taken it upon himself to visit Moleleki in the hospital and to offer him advice on how to handle statements concerning this assault. Of interest, he indicated that he had been the individual who told Moleleki to keep silent about the attempted assassination and not to engage others in conversations about what had occurred. He said he did this because he felt any comments by the FOMIN would only exacerbate rumors and public discussion about this unfortunate incident. Concerning the issue of stability following the lack of any public statement until recently by Moleleki or the government, Algamudi said he felt this was for the best; that any public discussion by GOL authorities would only add to a sense of insecurity in the country. ¶5. (C/NF) On the question of GOL leaders' actual response to the January incident, until April 12 there had only been a series of rumors and allegations including a reported dispute between Moleleki and the Police Commissioner about lack of investigatory action. There had been only general allusion to the incident in Parliament by the Deputy Prime Minister and now disputed statement by the LCD Executive Secretary, Minister of Trade Malie, who had suggested that the incident was a criminal one. On April 12, the leading English language daily "Public Eye" ran a statement by Moleleki saying that following the January 29 LCD Party Congress, he had visited a "female relative" and had not been at the house of any other woman prior to the shooting which occurred around 2:00 a.m. (Note: A widely-circulating rumor had it that the FOMIN had been visiting a mistress and was shot by the woman's spouse. Editorials in the same paper questioned why Moleleki was making this statement at this time when he reportedly had never given a statement to the police. End Note) In his statement, Moleleki continued to accuse members of the LCD of fomenting over a period of years a plan to assassinate him. There is no hard evidence for or against the involvement of political leaders. However, Trade Minister Malie's position was that there were elements within MASERU 00000184 002 OF 002 the LCD who were very unhappy with Moleleki's leadership on the Amendments Committee of the party. To date, there has been no public comment by the Prime Minister. There have been suggestions that Moleleki has thrown in his lot with his boss in order to secure his own future position as the Prime Minister's successor. ¶6. (C/NF) Algamudi shared with us a number of frustrations he has had with the GOL in trying to provide assistance from Libya. According to Ambassador Algamudi, his government has proposed programs ranging from training of helicopter pilots, provision of aircraft, supply of tractors and an unusual scheme to import camels (to demonstrate Saharan transport methods, especially to children of Lesotho, he said). He had previously shared with us that a request to build a large Libyan/Lesotho Muslim Cultural Center has remained dormant because there has never been a response from the GOL to this offer from Libya. He also reported difficulties in obtaining diplomatic IDs for members of his family while he is resident in Lesotho. ¶7. (C/NF) Comment: The difficulties the Libyans have faced in securing responses from the GOL are not unlike those of many of the diplomatic missions in Lesotho; every one of them has complained that responses to offers of assistance have taken significant amounts of time. Granted, the services offered by the Libyan People's Bureau do not seem always consistent with the needs of this developing country. Algamudi implied that Lesotho lags far behind some of its neighbors in the SADC region in terms of professionalism and capacity within the government. Overall, his relationship with the GOL appears to be mixed. On the one hand, he has received the facilities support, which we note also affords Lesotho officials the opportunity to keep an eye on Libyan operations in country. At the same time, Libya does appear to have an agenda and Algamudi has been forthcoming in telling us that his government is seeking to strengthen the African Union and Libya's role as a leader within that organization. Whether or not the Libyan People's Bureau would go so far as to have a role in attacking the Foreign Minister as Moleleki has alleged, remains open to question. We will follow up with Ambassador Algamudi when he returns from Tripoli where he is traveling to visit his older brother who is gravely ill. End Comment. PERRY