VZCZCXRO0537
PP RUEHMR
DE RUEHMR #0242/01 1390959
ZNY CCCCC ZZH
P R 190959Z MAY 06
FM AMEMBASSY MASERU
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC PRIORITY 2053
INFO RUCNSAD/SOUTHERN AFRICAN DEVELOPMENT COMMUNITY
RUEHGO/AMEMBASSY RANGOON 0019
RUEHMR/AMEMBASSY MASERU 2327

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 MASERU 000242 
 
SIPDIS 
 
SIPDIS 
 
FOR AF/S; RANGOON FOR P. MURPHY 
 
E.O. 12958: DECL:  5/17/2016 
TAGS: PREL PGOV PINR KICC KJUS MARR LT
SUBJECT: MEETING WITH FOMIN AND FURTHER DISCUSSION ON ARTICLE 98 
 
REF: (A) MASERU  235  (B) STATE 66837 AND PREVIOUS 
 
CLASSIFIED BY: JUNE CARTER PERRY, AMBASSADOR, EXEC, STATE. 
REASON: 1.4 (b), (d) 
 
 
 
CLASSIFIED BY: JUNE CARTER PERRY, AMBASSADOR, EXEC, STATE. 
REASON: 1.4 (b), (d) 
 
 
 
Summary 
---------- 
 
¶1.  (C) Ambassador met with Foreign Minister Moleleki May 16 
upon the Minister's return to reiterate that we need a firm 
deadline on Lesotho's Article 98 position.  During the FOMIN's 
absence, post had checked with the Acting Attorney General 
(A/AG) following telephone communications with Department 
lawyers and determined that the A/AG had not received a response 
from MFA's own legal division concerning the legal definition, 
if any, of the term "sent persons".  The Foreign Minister was 
astounded to learn this information; he claimed he had not heard 
from his staff and was, in fact, hearing it for the first time 
from the Ambassador.  He proceeded to say there now existed 
within MFA opposition to him and to the current ruling LDC 
party.  Ambassador also spoke with the Prime Minister May 16 
securing his agreement to a fuller discussion of bilateral 
matters.  The GOL has now received ICC analysis of "sent 
persons" consistent with that of Department lawyers.  Timing of 
further action following government's receipt of this 
information remains to be seen.  End Summary 
 
¶2.  (C) During the Ambassador's meeting, the FOMIN blamed the 
lack of communication with him on the efforts of the 
aforementioned group to sabotage him.  He also revealed that the 
Prime Minister's son, who serves in Lesotho's Embassy in 
Pretoria, has been fomenting dissent at MFA and advising his 
father (the Prime Minister) to disregard the FOMIN's points of 
view.  He said the First Lady, the Prime Minister's wife, is 
also against him and has been urging her husband to ignore the 
FOMIN's views.  (Comment:  The FOMIN's analysis of the First 
Lady's unhappiness with him is no surprise since she told 
Ambassador that she was "disgusted" with the situation 
surrounding the FOMIN.)  All of the above points to the FOMIN's 
apparent growing lack of credibility among various elements and 
have fueled the rumors that PM Mosisili is thinking of replacing 
him, reportedly with former Foreign Minister Tsekoa (currently 
Minister of Education and Training).  The lack of a Principal 
Secretary in the MFA for about 10 months has been disastrous for 
 
SIPDIS 
the functioning of the Ministry and according to the FOMIN, the 
acting Principal Secretary is a member of the cabal working 
against Moleleki's interest. 
 
¶3.  (C) I forced the Minister back to the purpose for our 
discussion, namely, is Lesotho going or not going to sign an 
Article 98 Agreement with the U.S.  Moleleki promised that he 
would meet with the Prime Minister that afternoon, May 16, to 
reiterate 1) that the interpretation of  "sent persons" was not 
an ICC analysis, but only that of some Rome Treaty signatories, 
and 2) to find out if the Prime Minister wanted further legal 
information himself.  Late May 16 and again on May 17, the 
Ambassador discussed with the Foreign Minister the outcome of 
his meeting with the Prime Minister.  According to Moleleki, the 
Prime Minister had subsequently requested a meeting with the 
Acting Attorney General which reportedly lasted almost 1 hour. 
The end result of that discussion was a request by the Prime 
Minister for the Acting Attorney General to speak with a Lesotho 
staff person at the ICC in The Hague to confirm the 
interpretation of "sent persons".  Late on May 18, the A/AG told 
the DCM that the ICC secretariat had advised him there is no 
official pronouncement or interpretation of the definition of 
"sent persons."  The A/AG stated he would formally convey this 
information to the GOL decision makers shortly. 
 
¶4.  (C)  I reiterated May 17 to the FOMIN that we need to 
conclude this issue and it had to be done very soon; that we had 
been given a series of previous potential dates; and the GOL's 
lack of following up had led to a serious credibility problem 
which would only worsen if the Article 98 matter was not 
resolved.  The FOMIN insisted that he would have it resolved by 
the end of this week and indicated he had spoken late May 17 
with the Foreign Minister of Ghana to learn how they had 
proceeded and promised to relay the GOL's reaction following 
receipt of Ghana's agreement.  During a late evening (May 18) 
conversation with the FOMIN, Ambassador relayed the A/AG's ICC 
information of which the Minister was unaware.  He responded 
that "then, there should be no problem" as the Prime Minister 
himself had requested The Hague's feedback.  The PM and FOMIN 
are both in the Qacha's Nek area (the PM's district) 6-8 hours 
 
MASERU 00000242  002 OF 002 
 
 
south of Maseru on May 19.  The FOMIN said he expected the A/AG 
to contact either him or the PM.  Given their travel, we do not 
expect further information/action until next week during which a 
holiday falls (May 25 - African Heroes Day). 
 
¶5.  (C) The Ambassador took a further opportunity on May 16 to 
let the Prime Minister know that we need to make progress on 
this issue and also discuss further major initiatives in 
Lesotho, including AIDS, MCC and elections.  The PM verbally 
agreed to a full meeting.  He was very gracious and appeared 
willing to move discussions forward.  How quickly that develops 
remains to be seen. 
PERRY