Ministry of Foreign Affairs

The following blog post was written on the evening of the 10th July. Due to technological restrictions it was posted at a later date.

During our visit to the ministry of Foreign Affairs we had a briefing with the actual Minister, which was very nice of him. He spoke to us for about 20 minutes and then had the top secretary in the department present a PowerPoint.

During the presentation it was made clear that Lesotho values Democracy and human rights. This is partly due to their need for aid and the willingness of countries to provide aid to places with good track records in those areas. Nevertheless, the continued to state the importance of those people to the Basotho government left us with high expectations.

Our group noticed major inconsistencies during the presentation. For example, the stated need to support Democracy, but then supporting governmental regimes that might provide “stability” (later in the day they came out in support of the Mugabi presidency in Zimbabwe) or the stated desire to support a the self-determination of a country, but then openly supporting the One China policy of PRC (issues: Taiwan and Tibet).

These inconsistencies of other were problematic for us Fulbrighters, who were hoping for the government would be more willing to stay consistent with beliefs and actions.

However, I am starting to appreciate the position that Lesotho is in. As an aid-dependant country, they are always trying not to rock the boat. There is a need to follow the lead of their “big brother” (South Africa) because it could be dangerous to do, at the economy of Lesotho is tied directly to the economy of South African and the other SADC countries. In addition, they openly admitted that there are times they have voted with the U.S. in the UN simply because it didn’t hurt them, even if they didn’t really like the vote. I guess that it is just another consequence to leading a small, economically insecure and landlocked country.