LESOTHO: JUDGE'S HOME SEARCHED, OPPOSITION AND CIVIL SOCIETY

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 03 MASERU 000439 SIPDIS SENSITIVE SIPDIS DEPARTMENT ALSO FRO AF/S; GABORONE FOR RSO E.O. 12958: N/A TAGS: PREL PGOV ASEC KDEM PHUM LT SUBJECT: LESOTHO: JUDGE'S HOME SEARCHED, OPPOSITION AND CIVIL SOCIETY SPEAK OUT REF: A) MASERU 436; B) MASERU 428; C) MASERU 398; D) MASERU 385 MASERU 00000439 001.2 OF 003 _____ ¶1. (SBU) SUMMARY: Lesotho's political crisis continues to lumber forward, as the Lesotho Mounted Police Service (LMPS) searched the home of a High Court Justice who recently issued two rulings against the GOL. Leaders of Lesotho's five major opposition parties held a press conference on July 24 addressing the ongoing Southern African Development Community (SADC) mediation process and the Millennium Challenge Corporation's $362.5 million compact signed in Washington the previous day. Also, a civil society delegation returned from a visit to Botswana designed to involve regional organizations in resolving allegations of human rights abuses in Lesotho. And unfortunately, in the midst of all of this maneuvering, opposition figures continue to politicize Millennium Challenge Corporation activities as U.S. government support for the Lesotho Congress for Democracy (LCD)-led government. END SUMMARY. -------------- Judge's Home Searched -------------- ¶2. (SBU) On the evening of July 24, the Lesotho Mounted Police Service (LMPS) searched the home of High Court Justice `Maseforo Makara, a judge who recently issued two rulings against the GOL. According to Police Inspector Pheello Mphana, the estranged husband of Judge Mahase is a suspect in the theft of military rifles from ministerial residences in June 2007. The search of the judge's home has led to an outcry on July 25 by callers to local radio programs, who stated that the Justice has not lived with her former husband in many years and they maintain separate residences. ¶3. (U) On July 7, Mahase presided over a case in which she ordered the immediate release from "police and/or military" custody of five individuals implicated, though at that time not charged, in the attacks against GOL ministerial residences and alleged coup plotting (ref C). On July 2, she ordered the immediate release of Makotoko Lerotholi, a bodyguard for opposition ABC leader Thomas Thabane, in response to a legal case filed by Lerotholi's wife after her husband's abduction by unknown gunmen on June 22 (ref D). In this case, she issued a strong statement from the bench, declaring that "the applicant's husband's kidnapping and detention by [Lesotho Defense Force (LDF) personnel] is an unlawful violation of his right to liberty," and directed that Makoanyane Military Hospital provide Lerotholi's attorney with records of "all physical examinations done while he remained at Makoanyane Military Hospital (MMH)." Lerotholi claimed that the LDF tortured him at the hospital. -------------- Opposition Leaders Address SADC Mediation, MCC -------------- ¶4. (U) Also on July 24, leaders of Lesotho's five major opposition parties held a press conference at Lancer's Inn to address the ongoing Southern African Development Community (SADC) mediation process and the Millennium Challenge Corporation's $362.5 million compact signed in Washington the previous day. Present were All Basotho Convention (ABC) Leader Thomas Thabane, Alliance of Congress Parties (ACP) Deputy Leader Dr. Khauhelo Ralitapole, Basotho National Party (BNP) Leader General Metsing Lekhanya, leader of the rump National Independent Party (NIP) Anthony Manyeli, and Marematlou Freedom Party (MFP) Leader Vincent Malebo. The opposition leaders declared that they were united in their desire to restart the SADC-mediated talks led by former President of Botswana Sir Ketumile Masire, and that as the MFP had withdrawn their court case regarding the allocation of Proportional Representation (PR) seats, the hiatus in the talks could end immediately. All leaders expressed enthusiasm for the quick arrival of experts on the Mixed Member Proportional (MMP) model, which was agreed in MASERU 00000439 002.2 OF 003 principal by all stakeholders during the last round of SADC-mediated talks. ¶5. (U) Thabane stressed that the opposition did not dispute the February 17 election results or plan to topple the government, but merely wanted outside experts to evaluate the distribution of PR seats. The ABC leader raised the recent spate of extra-judicial arrests and alleged torture of individuals associated with his party, stating that they continued despite recent court rulings. Thabane disapprovingly noted the increased prominence of Lesotho's military, which he stated acted with impunity. ¶6. (U) Opposition leaders spoke disparagingly about the timing of the signing of the $362.5 million compact with the Millennium Challenge Corporation, and noted that a letter to the U.S. Embassy urging a delay in compact signing had gone unanswered. ACP Leader Dr. Ralitapole stated that it was "unfortunate that the signing of a multi-million dollar compact with GOL will boost a repressive government which has no respect for human rights or the rule of law." BNP Leader General Lekhanya stated that the opposition did not oppose the work of the MCC, which they believed would benefit the nation, but emphasized that the funds should come to Lesotho under the "right conditions," not in the current climate of "human rights abuses." -------------- Lesotho Civil Society Delegation Takes Complaints to Botswana -------------- ¶7. (U) From July 18-21, a seven-person civil society delegation from Lesotho visited Botswana to ask regional organizations to help draw attention to reported human rights violations in the Mountain Kingdom. The delegation included the President of the Law Society of Lesotho (equivalent of the American Bar Association) Zwelakhe Mda; Deputy President of the Law Society of Lesotho Sekake Malebanye; Deputy Chairperson of the Lesotho Chapter of the Media Institute of Southern Africa Thabo Motlamelle; Secretary General of the Lesotho Trade Unions Congress Moletsane Jonathan; Treasurer of the Lesotho Law Society 'Mabolae Mohasi; Executive Director of the Lesotho Council of NGOs (LCN) Seabata Motsamai; and Director of the Transformation Resource Centre (TRC) Mateliso Ntsoelikane. The delegation met with SADC officials and civil society figures, including Deputy Executive Secretary Joco Caholo; former Botswana President (and Lesotho negotiation leader) Ketumile Masire; SADC Lawyers Association's Program Director Elijah Munyuki; and Botswana Council of Non-Governmental Organizations' (BOCONGO) Programs Manager Barulaganye Mogotsi. ¶8. (U) At the SADC meetings, the Lesotho delegation asked that their concerns be relayed to the leadership of SADC through its Organ on Politics, Defense, and Security under Tanzanian President Jakaya Kikwete. At a later meeting with BOCONGO Program Manager Mogotsi, he promised to inform other stakeholders, including the SADC Council of NGOs, about the situation in Lesotho and urge them to: 1) raise the matter up at the SADC Summit in Zambia next month; and 2) to send a fact finding mission to Lesotho. Of note, the SADC Lawyers Association indicated at a later meeting that they would soon send a fact finding mission to Lesotho. Program Director Munyuki said that the group "had people waiting in the wings" to respond to such events. -------------- More Troubling Signs -------------- MASERU 00000439 003.2 OF 003 ¶9. (SBU) COMMENT: As noted in previous reports (refs),the judicial independence displayed by Lesotho's High Court has been a bright sign for Lesotho's democratization. While it is too early to rush to judgment regarding the authority's motivations for searching Justice Makara's home, her status as a prime judicial skeptic of the GOL's methods in recent months raising troubling questions. These questions are likely to be raised increasingly loudly by both Lesotho's political opposition and civil society. Lesotho's civil society delegation's visit to Amnesty International in Pretoria during their return from Botswana further illustrates their desire to pull the international community into Lesotho's political impasse. And unfortunately, in the midst of all of this maneuvering, opposition figures continue to politicize Millennium Challenge Corporation activities as U.S. government support for the Lesotho Congress for Democracy (LCD)-led government. We will continue to work against this counterproductive perception. END COMMENT. ANDERSON