[PEN-L:277] Calamity in Lesotho Looms

[Michael Eisenscher <meisenscher@xxxxxxxxxxx>]

This was passed along by a friend who asked that the author's identity be
withheld.  I have no independent verification about the accuracy of what is
reported here.  Perhaps someone who receives this can provide that or more
information.
Michael


>>>I wonder if you are receiving news of Lesotho in the US.  It is the
>>>worst imaginable situation.  If people on your side are receiving
>>>trickles of news and are interested to know what is going on in
>>>Lesotho, this is what seems to be going on from close to the fires.
>>>
>>>It all started about this time last year, when the senile and
>>>sporadically mad Prime Minister, Ntsu Mokhehle, deserted his own
>>>political party and formed a new party called the LCD.  The national
>>>elections took place in May, 1998, and miraculously, this unheard-of
>>>and brand new party won "by a landslide". The new LCD Prime Minister
>>>was a quiet academic named Mosisili.  No one seemed to know anyone who
>>>had voted for Mosisili or the LCD, but it was said to have won by more
>>>than a two-thirds majority.  The other parties, chiefly the BCP and
>>>BNP, who have been at loggerheads for the past 50 or so years and have
>>>at times massacred each others' followers, styled themselves the
>>>"opposition" and began working together, trying to prove the elections
>>>had been rigged.  The situation grew more and more tense, and finally
>>>a South African commission headed by a judge named Pius Langa, was sent
>>>to research the situation about a month ago.
>>>
>>>Vigils were held, people camped out around government offices, and the
>>>wait for the news began.  Langa completed his work, and there was a
>>>strange silence.  The report was labelled secret.  No one would talk
>>>about it.  The "opposition" demanded Mandela come to Lesotho and
>>>declare Mosisili's government invalid.  He refused.  He said
>>>Mosisili's government was the democratically-elected government, and
>>>he was willing to deal only with Mosisili.  The Langa report was
>>>whispered about, wondered about, and never disclosed.  Many believe it
>>>proved Mosisili was not democratically elected, but Langa would not
>>>come out and say so.  Perhaps he was afraid to disclose the results,
>>>because then there would be NO legal government.  The king went into
>>>hiding.
>>>
>>>Unrest grew.  Attempts were made to assassinate members of Mosisili's
>>>government and Mosisili himself.  Finally Mosisili demanded assistance
>>>from the organisation of southern African governments (SADC), and
>>>Botswana and South Africa sent troops to Lesotho to quell the unrest.
>>>I think that was on Monday of this week.  Suddenly the "opposition" in
>>>Lesotho went crazy with rage, to find South Africa and Botswana
>>>supporting this man they believe is holding the country hostage, and
>>>in a matter of three days, the entire capital city was burned to the
>>>ground.  All the grocery stores were burned, all the government
>>>offices, the post office, the police stations and the jails, all the
>>>wholesale distributors.  Everything.  Fires are still blazing.  Tanks
>>>roam up and down the main streets.  All public transport has ceased.
>>>Schools were burned down and those that weren't burned were closed.
>>>Now there is no food.  There is nowhere to buy food.  Trucks with food
>>>supplies have turned back and returned to South Africa, because they
>>>have nowhere to deliver.   Hunger and desperation are escalating.
>>>There is no law and order of any kind.  Thieves, opportunists, and
>>>desperate parents trying to save their children are all together in
>>>the looting and devastation not only of public buildings but also of
>>>private homes.
>>>
>>>As if this were not enough, a devastating heat wave has swept in,
>>>following on the drought of the last few months.  The wisteria and
>>>azaleas have melted. This morning as I walked to the garage behind our
>>>apartment block, I passed a hill of spring jasmine baking in the
>>>37-degree Celsius heat.  Its dusty sweet smell was nauseating, somehow
>>>frightening.  No doubt the hot winds and the dry land feed the fires
>>>of Lesotho, seven hours away from us by road.
>>>
>>>Mandela, who is in the USA receiving a gold medal and supporting the
>>>beleaguered US President, gave a press conference last night saying he
>>>supports the South African troops being deployed in Lesotho.  But many
>>>Basotho have turned against Mandela (and all South Africans) and feel
>>>betrayed and invaded.  Cars in Lesotho with South African license
>>>plates are being stoned and set on fire.  South Africans and other
>>>multi-nationals living in Lesotho are fleeing for their lives,
>>>abandoning all their property.  Some woman none of us has ever heard
>>>of, a Mosotho with the surname of Morrison, has been appointed (none
>>>of us knows by whom) spokesperson for the "opposition" in Lesotho.
>>>She is furious about the "South African invasion" and says if the
>>>South African and Botswana tanks had not gone in, chaos would have
>>>been averted.  Many of those we talked to feel that South Africa is
>>>being made the scapegoat:  as if Lesotho had no problems before the
>>>troops arrived.  But on the other side, it is true, according to our
>>>friends, that the South African troops are violent, disorderly, and
>>>unpredictable.  They shoot at people.  That is what soldiers do.
>>>Their guns shake the earth.
>>>
>>>So far, the phone lines still work. This is how we are keeping abreast
>>>of the information.  South African news carries reports daily, but those
>>>reports are much sanitized by comparison with what we hear when we
>>>talk to people living in the midst of the tumult.
>>>
>>>I am hoping the Red Cross will go in and start distributing emergency
>>>food before the situation becomes a famine worse than those we have
>>>seen in northern Africa.  If any of you have any clout with the Red
>>>Cross, please be sure they are alerted to this situation.  Sometimes
>>>the US doesn't receive news of events that do not concern its
>>>government, and there is very little interest in Lesotho from the US.
>>>The Peace Corps is the only official US agency that does much there now.
>>>
>>>Needless to say we are deeply troubled and unspeakably sad.  So far,
>>>from what we have heard, most people in Lesotho have another day or
>>>two of food.  Those who successfully looted the burning grocery stores
>>>are trading corn meal for goods.  The taps are running dry from
>>>efforts to quench the fires.  There is a fear there may soon be no
>>>water.  This is not a plea for help, unless to alert the Red Cross.
>>>There is nothing any of us can think of to do right now.  This is just
>>>to keep you all informed.