FOREIGN MINISTER PLEASED WITH MCC SCORECARD AND EFFORTS ON

UNCLAS MASERU 000396 SIPDIS STATE FOR AF/S GABORONE FOR POL, ECON MAPUTO FOR POL PRETORIA FOR DATT, POL, ECON STATE PASS MCC E.O. 12958: N/A TAGS: PGOV PREL KMCA LT SUBJECT: FOREIGN MINISTER PLEASED WITH MCC SCORECARD AND EFFORTS ON LAND BILL REF: A. Maseru 388 B. Maseru 330 ¶1. Summary: On November 2, Foreign Minister Kenneth Tsekoa welcomed Ambassador Rob Nolan, DCM Elizabeth Power, and Dr. Gene MacDonald, Resident Country Director for MCC-Lesotho, for a warm conversation that focused on MCC issues; he was pleased with Lesotho's results in the MCC scorecard, encouraged by post's efforts to engage the political opposition on the Land Bill, and eager to help post arrange a meeting with the Prime Minister to review the MCC Compact's status one year after entry-in-force. He briefly mentioned the governing party's leadership conference on October 30, during which Prime Minister Mosisili announced that he was not retiring. Tsekoa also noted that Botswana was working on a proposal to buy water from Lesotho and advised that the external commission to investigate military involvement in April's attempted assassination of the Prime Minister would begin next week. End summary. ¶2. Foreign Minister Tsekoa was interested hear that Ambassador Nolan would be hosting opposition leaders at his residence on November 5 for a discussion of MCC and the USG role in the current debate over the controversial Land Bill (ref A). He agreed that land reform had been in the works for many years and had long been needed to encourage foreign direct investment and economic growth. He was pleased to hear that post would be engaging directly with the political opposition to "spread the truth" and formally clarify that, contrary to the claims of some opposition politicians, the USG has no direct interest in obtaining land in Lesotho for the purposes of economic exploitation. Tsekoa mentioned that at last week's leadership conference of the governing Lesotho Congress for Democracy (LCD),all 80 Members of Parliament were given copies of the Land Bill and were instructed to advocate among their constituents for its support. ¶3. MCC Resident Country Director (RCD) Gene MacDonald presented Tsekoa with Lesotho's annual MCC scorecard, which gave Lesotho an overall positive assessment. Tsekoa was pleased about Lesotho's rank at the top of its fellow lower income countries in the area of anti-corruption efforts, and felt that the scorecard showed Lesotho's commitment to improving its performance across all of the indicators, particularly when it was pointed out that the three indicators that Lesotho had failed were all performance areas addressed by Compact activities. Dr. MacDonald, however, did advise the minister that Lesotho was at or close to the 51 percentile required to pass for three other indicators, requiring continued vigilance by the government. Ambassador Nolan stated that he would like to review the Compact's status with the Prime Minister in the coming month, and Tsekoa eagerly agreed to facilitate the meeting and some follow-on publicity of Compact progress. ¶4. Tsekoa spent several minutes discussing the external investigation into the involvement of the Lesotho Defense Force in the April assassination attempt on the Prime Minister (ref B). Botswana has committed a senior military intelligence officer to the investigation team, while Mozambique has identified a judge to take part. Once South Africa identifies a military intelligence officer, the team will be complete; the investigation is expected to begin by mid-November. ¶5. On another regional issue, Tsekoa mentioned that Botswana is working on a proposal to buy water from Lesotho. The GOL is interested in supplying Botswana, but apparently the proposal has made South Africa, Lesotho's current water customer, a bit nervous; South Africa wants to ensure that its water supply is not negatively impacted by any new agreements with Botswana. The GOL is currently investigating logistics for transporting water to Botswana. ¶6. Comment: Tsekoa's mention of the LCD leadership conference did not touch on the party's succession, but press reports noted that Mosisili firmly stated that he will not be retiring any time soon. Post looks forward to discussing MCC Compact status and touching on succession issues with the Prime Minister at the upcoming meeting, likely to be scheduled for late November or early December. End comment. NOLAN