LESOTHO CURFEW LIFTED; FM APPEALS FOR DIPLOMATIC SUPPORT

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 MASERU 000367

SIPDIS

SIPDIS

DEPT FOR AF/S, DS; PASS MCC

E.O. 12958: DECL: 6/23/2017
TAGS: PGOV PREL EAID ASEC LT
SUBJECT: LESOTHO CURFEW LIFTED; FM APPEALS FOR DIPLOMATIC SUPPORT

REF: A) MASERU 365 AND PREVIOUS; B) MASERU 355

MASERU 00000367 001.2 OF 002


CLASSIFIED BY: Charge d'Affaires a.i. W. Patrick Murphy, CDA
a.i., EXEC, DOS.
REASON: 1.4 (b),(d)

1. (C) Summary: To the relief of local residents, Lesotho
Police lifted a week-long curfew on June 22. Security forces,
however, maintained checkpoints throughout Maseru, leading to
the shooting of a government employee. Foreign Minister Tsekoa,
meeting with resident diplomats on June 23, dismissed security
concerns and took umbrage at the notion of neutrality of the
diplomatic community vis-a-vis the country's political impasse.
Tsekoa instead asked for support of the "government of the day"

SIPDIS
and appealed for help "to convince the opposition parties that
the ballot box has spoken and that they are dirtying the waters
(with their efforts to reallocate parliamentary seats)." The
GOL's knee-jerk curfew and increasingly pronounced insinuation
that the political opposition is to blame for the impasse as
well as recent violence could splash cold water on local hopes
for dialogue and reconciliation. End Summary.

--------------
CURFEW LIFTED
--------------


2. (U) Lesotho's Commissioner of Police announced via public
radio on the afternoon of June 22 that she had lifted a
comprehensive daily curfew that she had imposed one week earlier
in response to attacks on senior government and political
leaders (ref A). Emboffs confirmed with a Deputy Commissioner
of Police that the announcement lifting the curfew was official
and effective immediately.


3. (U) Maseru remained relatively quiet and calm the nights of
June 22-25, but security officials maintained various
checkpoints and roadblocks at locations throughout Maseru. At
about midnight on June 22, Lesotho Defence Forces (LDF)
personnel at a roadblock in eastern Maseru opened fire on a
marked vehicle of the Ministry of Gender, Youth, Sports and
Recreation, injuring the ministry employee behind the wheel.


--------------
DIPLOMATS MEET WITH FOREIGN MINISTER
--------------


4. (U) On Saturday June 23, representatives of key diplomatic
missions met with Foreign Minister Tsekoa prior to his departure
for an EU-ACP meeting in Germany and the AU Summit in Ghana. In
attendance at the meeting, requested by diplomatic missions to
address current security and political dialogue concerns, were
the Ambassadors of Ireland (acting Dean),South Africa, and the
European Commission; Charge of the U.S. Embassy; and the UN
Resident Coordinator.


5. (SBU) FM Tsekoa, just back from the Prime Minister's state
visit to South Africa, began the meeting by thanking diplomatic
missions for remaining in Lesotho after the demise of apartheid,
when many countries relocated their diplomatic representation to
Pretoria. "Your presence helps us to achieve rule of law and to
maintain order," he said, "we need you to celebrate our
successes and to be present when we regret our failure or
instability."


6. (C) Referring to the country's ongoing political impasse,
Tsekoa observed that election crises occur across the world --

SIPDIS
"even in the United States or in Europe" -- but "what is a drop
in the ocean of a large country equates to roaring thunder in
our small country." He said that with the lifting of the curfew
the previous evening, the "security situation is stabilizing"
but its sustainability would "depend on us in the government,
the opposition, and all stakeholders." He added that law
enforcement entities "had made some detentions" (NFI) and would
continue efforts to seek the perpetrators of the attacks and to
confiscate stolen weapons. "We want to return to normalcy," he
said. (Comment: In a pull aside after the meeting, Charge gave
Tsekoa assurances that there were no signs recent events would

SIPDIS
derail progress on Lesotho's MCC compact. Tsekoa expressed
relief, but Charge encouraged GOL dialogue with local
stakeholders and greater transparency in responding to security
situations. End Comment).

--------------
SEEKING SECURITY AND STABILITY
--------------


7. (C) Acting Dean Irish Ambassador Paddy Fay said diplomatic
missions were concerned as friends of Lesotho that there be no
slide back to the tumult and chaos of 1998. "Stability and
security are our primary objectives," he said, "to protect our
personnel and citizens and to maintain delivery of our
assistance programs." Fay emphasized that diplomatic missions
had "no wish to interfere" in the domestic political situation
and would remain neutral on the unresolved political impasse,
but urged that a peaceful resolution be achieved through the

MASERU 00000367 002.2 OF 002


courts and through dialogue. He added that in the absence of
GOL statements on recent violence and the curfew, the Basotho
public remained in the dark and consequently "the opposition and
other ill-formed groups are filling the information void with
speculation." Fay told FM Tsekoa that there was therefore a
need for the Prime Minister to address the nation.


8. (C) Several of the diplomats echoed the Irish Ambassador's
points. The EC High Commissioner and UNRC each expressed
concerns about automatic weapon shootings on the night of June
20 at the Minister of Gender's residence and other locations in
Maseru West, a central neighborhood with a high concentration of
diplomatic missions and personnel (Note: According to Embassy
sources, the June 20 incidents involved reckless shooting by
drunken and undisciplined LDF soldiers celebrating pay day. End
Note). Charge noted that the Deputy Prime Minister, in his
meeting with diplomats on June 18 (ref B),had cited serious
concerns about security personnel "who want to overthrow the
government" and stated that he would make a public announcement
later that day on the situation. Five days later, however,
neither the DPM nor any senior GOL official had made any public
comments.

--------------
THE BALLOT BOX HAS SPOKEN
--------------


9. (C) FM Tsokoa "appealed for calm" from the diplomats.
"Anything less than calm," he said, "would concern my government
and I would feel weakened," adding that when he was Ambassador
to the UK he frequently heard gunfire in the streets of London
near his residence. Tsekoa took umbrage at the Irish
Ambassador's comments on the neutrality of the diplomatic
community, emphasizing that he actually wanted to hear from
diplomats that "you are representing countries that agree to
work with the government of the day." Observing that the GOL
desired to deliver services to the public, Tsekoa asked that
diplomatic missions "help us to convince the opposition that the
ballot box has spoken and that they are dirtying the waters
(with their efforts to reallocate parliamentary seats)."


10. (C) Tsekoa acknowledged that the GOL's communications had
been extremely poor. "I only heard about the curfew myself when
it was originally announced on the radio," he said, adding that
he personally regretted that neither the PM nor the DPM had
spoken publicly. "I agree that when the chips are down," the FM
said, "the leader needs to speak, but I can't tell my head of
government how to operate."


11. (C) Irish Ambassador Fay replied that, under the
circumstances, he felt the diplomatic community had been
entirely calm, and he assured the FM that the GOL had the full
support of the international community as "the government of the
day." He noted that the governing party, the LCD, was another
story: "When the LCD is not acting as the GOL, but rather as a
partisan party in conflict with other political parties, we must
remain neutral." FM Tsekoa said he fully concurred, adding that
he expected diplomats to "give a fair hearing to all Basotho,
whether opposition or government, that is your job."


12. (C) FM Tsekoa concluded that he believed "there had been no
coup attempt (in recent weeks),but a coup was probably the
ultimate aim of the attackers." He said there had been unlawful
efforts to split the military, but "we have thwarted this
because the perpetrators recognize that a coup is pointless when
the SADC membership clearly wants a stable and democratic
Lesotho."

--------------
COMMENT: NOT A RECIPE FOR RECONCILIATION
--------------


13. (C) Tsekoa, a graduate of Amherst College in the United
States, is a seasoned diplomat and respected government
official, having served former stints as Foreign Minister and
Minister of Education. He was relaxed and confident, if not
uncharacteristically defiant, at the June 23 meeting with
diplomats, considerably more so than at the Deputy Prime
Minister's briefing with diplomats on June 18 (ref B),at which
Tsekoa was visibly uncomfortable with the DPM's uneven handling

SIPDIS
of security concerns.


14. (C) Nonetheless, although Tsekoa is head and shoulders above
most of his cabinet colleagues, he curiously demonstrated a lack
of understanding, or disregard, of the domestic implications of
the GOL's response to attacks on government leaders. The GOL's
knee-jerk curfew and increasingly pronounced insinuation that
the political opposition is to blame for the impasse as well as
recent violence could splash cold water on local hopes for
dialogue and reconciliation. End Comment.
MURPHY