LESOTHO: UNKNOWN GUNMEN ATTACK POLICE AND MILITARY UNITS

C O N F I D E N T I A L MASERU 000142

SIPDIS

DEPT FOR DS, AF/S

E.O. 12958: DECL: 5/15/2018
TAGS: ASEC PGOV PREL LT
SUBJECT: LESOTHO: UNKNOWN GUNMEN ATTACK POLICE AND MILITARY UNITS

REF: 2007 MASERU 340

CLASSIFIED BY: Christopher M. Smith, P/DEP Officer, P/DEP,
Department of State.
REASON: 1.4 (b),(d)

1. (C) SUMMARY: A group of six unknown gunmen attacked several
Lesotho military and police units on the evening of May 13,
seizing official weapons but leaving their victims unharmed. A
prominent military representative confirmed the basic outline of
these events to Emboff, including a police allegation that the
gunmen exchanged fire with a joint Lesotho and South African
police operation. The motives of these attacks are unknown.
END SUMMARY.


2. (U) According to a May 15 Lesotho Mounted Police Service
(LMPS) press release, on the evening of May 13 approximately six
men dressed in army fatigues traveling in two vehicles attacked
army and police units at Ha Tsolo (in the Maseru suburbs) and a
roving Lesotho Defense Force (LDF) patrol in Maseru West before
proceeding north along the South African border to Maputsoe and
engaging in a firefight with LMPS and South African Police
Service (SAPS) units. No one was injured. Further north in
Butha Buthe, the same men allegedly bound an officer of
Lesotho's National Security Service (NSS) and left him by the
side of the road.


3. (U) Police later found the two vehicles used in the attacks
abandoned, one of which was destroyed. Police allege that
59-year-old Makotoko Lerotholi, one of the individuals whom the
GOL accuses of perpetrating similar attacks in 2007 on
ministerial residences (reftel) and now in self-imposed exile in
South Africa, was identified at the scene of one of the
incidents. [NOTE: Lerotholi phoned Harvest FM radio station on
the morning on May 15 and stated that he is still bedridden in
Johannesburg. END NOTE.]


4. (C) On May 15, Brigade Commander Brigadier Mahao confirmed to
A/RSO that attacks on GOL security units did take place,
although he demurred on offering further details. Embassy
contacts within the GOL said that the cabinet subcommittee on
security held an emergency session on the attacks on the morning
on May 14.


5. (C) COMMENT: The motives of the attackers remain unknown,
although their modus operendi (use of camouflage fatigues and
automatic guns, seizure of official weapons, and leaving their
victims unharmed) is reminiscent of similar attacks that took
place in 2007 during an intense post-election political impasse
(reftel). The current political climate is calm, however,
making the latest attacks even more mysterious. END COMMENT.

NOLAN