VZCZCXRO6616
OO RUEHBZ RUEHDU RUEHJO RUEHRN
DE RUEHMR #0353/01 1661343
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
O 151343Z JUN 07
FM AMEMBASSY MASERU
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC IMMEDIATE 3059
INFO RUCNSAD/SOUTHERN AFRICAN DEVELOPMENT COMMUNITY
RUEHMR/AMEMBASSY MASERU 3431

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 MASERU 000353 
 
SIPDIS 
 
SENSITIVE 
SIPDIS 
 
DEPT ALSO FOR AF/S, DS 
GABARONE FOR RSO 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: PREL PGOV KDEM ASEC LT
SUBJECT: LESOTHO: FRESH ATTACKS ON HOMES OF GOL MINISTER AND 
OPPOSITION LEADER 
 
REF: A) MASERU 340; B) MASERU 337;  C) MASERU 94; D) MASERU 178 
 
MASERU 00000353  001.2 OF 002 
 
 
¶1. (U) SUMMARY:  Only four days after the June 10 attack on the 
residences of two government ministers, unidentified gunmen 
carried out a new attack on the residence of Mothojoa Metsing, 
Minister of Communications, Science and Technology, on the night 
of June 14.  Post sources indicated that the attackers fired 
weapons randomly inside and outside the home and escaped in the 
Minister's official vehicle, commandeered at gunpoint shortly 
before the attack.  Metsing and his family were home at the 
time, but uninjured.  On the same night, unknown assailants 
sprayed the residence of Thomas Thabane, leader of the 
opposition All Basotho Convention (ABC) political party, with 
automatic gunfire.  Thabane was also uninjured.  This spate of 
mysterious attacks on political figures, similar to attacks over 
the past year and taking place in the background of an ongoing 
SADC initiative to promote dialogue between the governing LCD 
and opposition parties, is a highly disconcerting and troubling 
development.  END SUMMARY. 
 
 
 
 ------------------------------------- 
 
Another Minister's Residence Attacked 
 
------------------------------------- 
 
¶2. (U) According to the Office of the Commander of the Lesotho 
Defense Force (LDF), a chauffer driving Minister of 
Communications Mothojoa Metsing's official vehicle was returning 
to the minister's residence in Maseru West on the evening of 
June 14, after dropping off two bodyguards assigned to his 
personal protective detail.  At approximately 8:10 p.m., five 
gunmen stopped and commandeered the Minister's vehicle at 
gunpoint and instructed the driver to travel to Metsing's home. 
Upon their arrival, the group disarmed two LDF guards who later 
stated that they were initially unaware of anyone in the vehicle 
other than the driver.  The gunmen proceeded to fire automatic 
rifles randomly at the residence's exterior windows and walls. 
Several attackers are reported to have entered the house, firing 
automatic weapons inside.  Minister Metsing was reportedly in 
his residence at the time of the attack, but was uninjured. 
 
¶3. (U) The assailants left the residence in Minister Metsing's 
official vehicle.  The police were immediately notified, and a 
search for the vehicle ensued.  Just before 9:00 p.m., a fire 
brigade unit of the Lesotho Mounted Police identified the 
ministerial vehicle on a highway east of Maseru and attempted to 
stop the carjackers.  The gunmen opened fire on the fire truck 
and forced it to stop (no reported injuries).  Police found the 
Minister's vehicle later that evening abandoned on the outskirts 
of Maseru. 
 
¶4. (U) A June 15 press release issued by Lesotho's Ministry of 
Communications on the incident reads as follows: (informal 
translation from Sesotho) 
 
BEGIN TEXT: 
 
The family of the Minister of Communications, Science and 
Technology and government spokesperson Mothojoa Metsing was 
attacked on the evening of Thursday, 14 June, 2007. 
 
According to a report by the Minister's driver, five gunmen 
traveling in an Isuzu pick-up bearing known registration numbers 
(of which the owner is also known), blocked the Minister's car 
which was traveling back to the residence after dropping off the 
Minister's bodyguards at their homes.  They tied the hands of 
the driver, gagged him, and drove to the Minister's residence 
where they fired randomly at the house. 
 
No one was injured in this incident, but the Minister's 
residence is riddled with bullets. 
 
15 June, 2007 
 
END TEXT. 
 
------------------ 
 
The Thabane Factor 
 
------------------ 
 
¶5. (U) In a separate incident also on the evening of June 14, 
unknown gunmen also reportedly attacked the exterior of the 
Maseru home of leading political opposition figure Thomas 
Thabane with automatic rifles.  On June 15, Thabane, a former 
 
MASERU 00000353  002.2 OF 002 
 
 
senior minister who left the governing LCD party to form the ABC 
in October 2006, claimed on a private radio station broadcast 
that gunmen had fired at the windows and walls of his home the 
previous evening.  He said that no one was injured, and called 
for police to investigate the matter.  On air, Thabane stressed 
that his supporters should allow the judicial process to take 
its course and urged ABC members not to interfere with ongoing 
investigations. 
 
¶6. (SBU) On June 14, prior to the attack on Thabane's house, the 
UN Resident Coordinator (UNRC) told Charge that the ABC leader 
had called her to complain that authorities had earlier that day 
disarmed his personal bodyguards despite, he claimed, their 
legal and permitted possession of firearms.  On June 15, the 
Minister of Communications cancelled a scheduled meeting with 
the UNRC, stating that the GOL was convening for an emergency 
session, but provided no further details. 
 
¶7. (U) Law enforcement authorities and the LDF responded to 
these events by mounting roadblocks on all major roads to Maseru 
on the morning of June 15.  This move was criticized on local 
radio call-in shows, a key barometer of public opinion, by 
callers complaining that the lengthy searches for illegal 
weapons resulted in morning traffic grinding to a standstill 
without producing any public safety benefit. 
 
----------------------------- 
 
A String of Similar Incidents 
 
----------------------------- 
 
¶8. (SBU) COMMENT:  The brazen June 14 attack on the Minister 
Metsing's vehicle and residence was substantially similar to the 
June 10 attacks, except that a great deal more damage was done 
to Metsing's residence.  These recent attacks bear similarly to 
a November 2006 armed assault which killed a Dutch aid worker at 
the residence of then Minister of Trade Malie, as well as to a 
March 2007 attack on a home owned by Minister of Tourism Ntsinyi 
and occupied by two American aid workers.  While mere 
speculation, some observers postulate that the attack on 
Thabane's home may have been retribution by a pro-government 
group for the attacks on GOL residences during the week.  While 
the Kingdom of Lesotho has shown many signs of increasing 
political maturity, such as improved judicial independence, the 
current attacks, taking place in the background of an ongoing 
SADC initiative to promote dialogue between the governing LCD 
and opposition parties, represent a highly disconcerting and 
troubling development.  END SUMMARY. 
MURPHY