EXTRAORDINARY SADC DELEGATION ARRIVES IN LESOTHO

UNCLAS MASERU 000223 SIPDIS SIPDIS E.O. 12958: N/A TAGS: PREL PGOV LT SUBJECT: EXTRAORDINARY SADC DELEGATION ARRIVES IN LESOTHO REF: MASERU 202 AND PREVIOUS ¶1. A ministerial-level delegation of the Southern African Development Community (SADC) Troika Organ on Politics, Defense, and Security arrived in Maseru on April 11 to focus on Lesotho's post-election political stalemate. The troika consists of Tanzania (chair),Namibia (in-coming chair) and Angola (out-going chair). The delegation has come to Lesotho following recommendations made at the recent SADC Summit held in Tanzania on March 29. The Summit followed a SADC Council of Ministers meeting held in Maseru on March 22, during which Lesotho's opposition parties urged the SADC Double Troika to intervene in the country's domestic political situation. ¶2. The SADC Mission currently in Lesotho, led by Ministers from Tanzania, Namibia, and Angola, is expected to meet with the governing Lesotho Congress for Democracy (LCD) party, the Lesotho Council of NGOs, a sub-committee of Lesotho Cabinet members, the Christian Council of Lesotho (CCL),the resident diplomatic corps, and Lesotho's five main opposition parties. (Note: The five opposition parties--the ABC, ACP, BNP, MFP, and NIP--have alleged an unfair allocation of the forty proportional seats in Lesotho's Parliament. The parties suspended a paralyzing strike in late March following assurances of a SADC mediation role. End Note.) The SADC mission will also pay a courtesy call on Lesotho's Prime Minister. The visit coincides with a visit by a Commonwealth delegation, led by Professor Ade Adefuye of the London-based Commonwealth Secretariat. Adefuye arrived in Maseru on April 10 to discuss the political situation in Lesotho. PERRY