FOREIGN MINISTER'S TOUR D'HORIZON DOES NOT INCLUDE AU CHAIR

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 MASERU 000330

SIPDIS

DEPT FOR AF/S

E.O. 12958: DECL: 9/14/2019
TAGS: PGOV PREL ECON ETRD LT
SUBJECT: FOREIGN MINISTER'S TOUR D'HORIZON DOES NOT INCLUDE AU CHAIR
ISSUE

REF: GABORONE 702

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CLASSIFIED BY: Elizabeth C. Power, Deputy Chief of Mission.
REASON: 1.4 (b)

1. (C) Summary: Ambassador Rob Nolan was invited by Foreign
Minister Kenneth Tsekoa to a meeting which resulted in a tour
d'horizon discussion of the key issues in Lesotho's current
political arena. Tsekoa stated that the government of Lesotho
(GOL) is bringing together a commission of international experts
to investigate the roots of the April assassination attempt on
the Prime Minister, in an attempt to determine the source of the
plot and the depth of Lesotho Defense Force (LDF) involvement in
it. He also discussed atmospherics of the recent AU
extraordinary summit in Libya and last week's SADC summit in
Kinshasa, which he admitted was contentious, although he did not
raise the issue of Lesotho's failed bid to be SADC's choice for
African Union (AU) chair. Finally, Tsekoa provided the
Ambassador a copy of a letter that the GOL is transmitting to
Representative Charles Rangel of New York, in his capacity as
Chairman of the House Ways and Means Committee, requesting his
further support of African textile factories through AGOA and
related trade provisions. End Summary.


2. (C) Tsekoa engaged the Ambassador in a warm and open
conversation that touched on all of the major issues facing
Lesotho's political system. He advised the Ambassador that the
Prime Minister will be announcing today the creation of a
commission of international experts to investigate the
assassination attempt of the Prime Minister in April, which was
carried out by a group of South Africans, Basotho, and
Mozambicans, many of whom were mercenaries. The commission will
be made up of a Mozambican judge, military intelligence experts
from South Africa and Botswana, an Indian who used to advise the
LDF, and several unnamed Basotho representatives. This group's
mission will be to determine the extent of LDF involvement in
the planning and execution of the attack, as well as uncover the
funding source and mastermind of the plot. The commission is
expected to begin its work in October.


3. (C) The Foreign Minister shared his perceptions of the AU's
extraordinary summit on conflict prevention and mitigation that
took place in Libya in early September. He noted Moammar
Qaddafi's strong, eccentric personality and stated that there
were few African leaders who were willing to speak up to rein
him in when he was speaking out of turn or attempting to push
through proposals that were not palatable to the rest of the
continent's leaders. In discussing this most recent summit, he
state that Prime Minister Pakalitha Mosisili was the only one
who spoke up and pushed back against Qaddafi as the Libyan
leader was attempting to steamroll the group about the AU flag
design. Tsekoa also lamented the "billions of dollars" spent on
both the summit and the Libyan anniversary celebration, nothing
that such money would be better spent on economic development in
Libya and elsewhere.


4. (C) Turning to last week's SADC summit in Kinshasa, Tsekoa
said that he saw "not a softening, but a maturation" of Zimbabwe
president Robert Mugabe's attitude towards working with Prime
Minister Morgan Tsvangirai and the coalition government; he also
expressed his pleasure that the European Union had made a visit
to Zimbabwe to review its sanctions and humanitarian assistance.
Tsekoa spoke briefly about the report by SADC mediator
Keturmile Masire, former president of Botswana, who Tsekoa
indicated was "angry" about the lack of progress in his attempts
to resolve Lesotho's dispute over the 2007 national elections.
According to Tsekoa, Prime Minister Mosisili also became angry
at SADC's failrure to accept the GOL position that the courts
have ruled on the dispute and the case is now closed for further
discussion. The SADC Organ will now take up where Masire left
off and continue to monitor the dispute. Tsekoa did not mention
the relationship between this issue and Mosisili's bid for the
AU chair (reftel).


5. (C) At the end of the meeting, Tskeoa gave the Ambassador a
copy of a letter that the Lesotho Embassy in Washington has sent
to Rep. Charles Rangel of New York. The letter request Rangel's
support for "a `hybrid' scenario through which US garment buyers
who continue to source from Africa would be rewarded with
opportunity to import equal volumes of garments from the Asian
LDCs free of duty." Ambassador Nolan agreed to pass this letter
on to the Department, noting the importance of AGOA and the
textile industry to Lesotho's fragile economy. (Note: Post will
email a copy of this letter to AF/S. End Note.)


6. (C) Comment: Tsekoa's usual warmth and frankness are a
testament to the good relationship post has cultivated with him.
His comments on the SADC summit are of particular interest,
given Lesotho's unusual loss of support for AU chair to Malawi.
Post contacts within the MFA have stated, "SADC does not respect
us," indicating that Lesotho capitulated to Malawi for the sake
of regional unity. Given the Prime Minister's public vehemence
about not ceding to any of the opposition's demands in the
election dispute, his anger during the summit is not surprising

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- and the lack of support from SADC for his AU chair bid is
likely to be a big blow to him. It is not clear, however, that
this new development will change his position towards the
opposition. Talks with the opposition are planned to continue
over the coming weeks, and post will report any developments.
NOLAN