VZCZCXRO0367
OO RUEHBZ RUEHDU RUEHJO RUEHRN
DE RUEHMR #0488/01 2262301
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
O 142301Z AUG 07
FM AMEMBASSY MASERU
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC IMMEDIATE 3275
INFO RUCNSAD/SADC COLLECTIVE
RUEHMR/AMEMBASSY MASERU 3668

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 03 MASERU 000488 
 
SIPDIS 
 
SENSITIVE 
SIPDIS 
 
DEPARTMENT ALSO FOR AF/S; 
GABORONE FOR RSO; 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: PREL PGOV PHUM ASEC PINS PTER LT
SUBJECT: THE LESOTHO LIBERATION ARMY (LLA): BACK FOR MORE? 
 
REF: a) Maseru 436; b) Maseru 439 
 
MASERU 00000488  001.2 OF 003 
 
 
¶1. (SBU) SUMMARY:  The Lesotho Liberation Army, or LLA, is an 
aging insurgent group dating back to the 1970's which appeared 
to rest in obscurity until several of its former members were 
recently implicated in attacks on ministerial residences.  Born 
out of opposition to the dictatorship of post-independence 
Lesotho, the LLA launched a guerilla war against the GOL in 1978 
and was largely defeated in 1979.  After sporadic LLA bombings 
and ambushes in the 1980's, the group was called back to Lesotho 
from exile in Botswana and South Africa in 1990, but the Lesotho 
Defense Forces (LDF) reneged on offers to fold its ranks into 
the regular military.  There is no evidence to indicate that the 
purported reemergence of the LLA is anything more than a handful 
of jobless former insurgents, with no identifiable political 
support, reduced to begging for handouts.  Their apparent 
involvement in recent attacks, however, either undermines the 
GOL's adamant theory that elected opposition parties are the 
sole perpetrators or suggests that the political parties may be 
hiring local mercenaries to weaken the LCD government.  END 
SUMMARY. 
 
 
 
-------------------------------- 
 
Guns Reclaimed, LLA Responsible? 
 
-------------------------------- 
 
 
 
¶2.  (U) In the early morning of July 19, 2007, the Lesotho 
Defense Forces (LDF) and the Lesotho Mounted Police Service 
(LMPS) launched a joint operation east of Maseru at Ha Ts'osane 
and Sekamaneng in an attempt to recover weapons stolen from 
military guards at ministerial residences in June 2007 (ref A). 
Military and police forces recovered eight Israeli-made Galilee 
rifles, two M-16 rifles, a 9 mm pistol, two army radios, and an 
assortment of ammunition during the operation.  A man named 
Kantu Pakela was arrested during the action, and another man 
named Setsoto Ranthimo was killed during a firefight with 
authorities.  According to police sources, a cab driver who 
transported the two men tipped off police after he suspected the 
men were carrying rifles.  The remaining weapons were found in a 
derelict house along with two boxes of AK47 ammunition, and an 
assortment of military-style clothing and equipment.  The LMPS 
later verified that the recovered weapons were among those 
stolen in the June 2007 attacks. 
 
 
 
¶3.  (U) In a separate operation, Thabiso Mahase, the estranged 
husband of High Court Judge Mahase, was found with a cache of 
illegal weapons.  In this operation, Judge Mahase's home was 
searched by police, leading to an outcry among opposition 
figures and the Lesotho Law Society who claimed that the search 
was related to her recent rulings against the GOL (ref B). 
Thabiso Mahase is still at large.  According to police, the link 
between Kantu Pakela, Setsoto Ranthimo, and Thabiso Mahase is 
their connections to the LLA.  But what is the Lesotho 
Liberation Army? 
 
 
 
---------------------------- 
 
The History: The LLA is Born 
 
---------------------------- 
 
 
 
¶4.  (U) In January 1970, Lesotho held its first general election 
following attainment of independence in 1966.  Fearing that the 
governing Basotho National Party (BNP) would be defeated, Prime 
Minister Leabua Jonathan declared a state of emergency and 
suspended the constitution prior to the announcement of election 
results.  Under pressure from cabinet members and paramilitary 
leaders, Jonathan jailed opposition leaders.  The 1970 election 
was annulled and Jonathan ruled Lesotho by decree. 
 
 
 
----------------- 
 
Coups and Defeats 
 
----------------- 
 
 
MASERU 00000488  002.2 OF 003 
 
 
 
 
¶5.  (U) Militants within the opposition Basotholand Congress 
Party (BCP) led by Ntsu Mokhele attempted to stage a coup in 
1974 and fled into exile after its failure.  The coup attempt 
strengthened the government's hand and cast the BCP as a violent 
faction, reducing its domestic standing.  The BCP then created 
the LLA as its armed wing.  Masquerading as the Azanian People's 
Liberation Army (APLA), the paramilitary wing of the 
anti-apartheid Pan African Congress (PAC), the LLA received 
military training in Libya.  The group then moved to Tanzania, 
whose government disarmed the group following a protest from the 
Government of Lesotho.  In 1978, 178 members of the LLA entered 
Lesotho with outdated weapons to launch a guerilla war.  The 
majority of these guerillas were defeated by the Lesotho 
Paramilitary Force (a predecessor to the current armed forces, 
the LDF) and Lesotho's Police Mobile Unit in northern Lesotho in 
¶1979. 
 
 
 
¶6.  (U) The BCP leader subsequently sought assistance for the 
LLA from the apartheid regime in South Africa.  South 
African-based American mercenary Bob MacKenzie began training 
new LLA recruits.  [NOTE: Mr. MacKenzie was the son-in-law of 
senior Nixon-era CIA official Ray Steiner Cline, leading to a 
number of wild conspiracy theories regarding U.S. involvement in 
LLA activities.  END NOTE.]  Because of Lesotho's heavy 
criticism of the apartheid regime, South Africa began to allow 
the LLA to use its territory to launch attacks against the 
Mountain Kingdom. 
 
 
 
------------------------------ 
 
A Tool of the Apartheid Regime 
 
------------------------------ 
 
 
 
¶7.  (U) Throughout the early 1980's, the LLA claimed 
responsibility for periodic bombings in Maseru, ambushes of 
government officials, and attacks on police stations.  These 
attacks included the bombings of the U.S. Cultural Center in 
Maseru and the West German Ambassador's unoccupied vehicle.  The 
South African government denied the GOL's claims that the LLA 
launched attacks from their territory.  Prime Minister Jonathan 
became increasingly strident in his anti-apartheid 
proclamations, and relations with South Africa continued to 
deteriorate.  This deterioration reached a new low on December 
9, 1982, when South African troops entered Lesotho and raided 
the homes of alleged African National Congress (ANC) members in 
Maseru, killing 42 individuals. 
 
 
 
¶8.  (U) The BNP government ruled by decree until January 20, 
1986 when a military junta overthrew it.  The Military Council 
that came to power granted executive authority to King 
Moshoeshoe II, who was previously a ceremonial monarch.  In 
1989, exiled BCP members, including LLA soldiers, began 
returning to Lesotho under the new government's national 
reconciliation policy.  Military government chairman Major 
General Justin Metsing Lekhanya was ousted in 1991 and replaced 
by Major General Elias Phisoana Ramaema.  Rameama ceded power to 
a democratically elected BCP government in 1993. 
 
 
 
------------------------------ 
 
LLA Disbands, But Find No Home 
 
------------------------------ 
 
 
 
¶9.  (U) As a condition for the return of the LLA and other 
exiled BCP members to Lesotho, the LLA agreed to disband and be 
incorporated into the LDF.  However, widespread opposition 
within the LDF to this integration led to unrest in the army 
culminating in fighting among opposing army factions in January 
¶1994.  In the aftermath of this confrontation, the LDF did not 
allow LLA members to be folded into their ranks.  While some 
former LLA members found jobs in government (including several 
as members of Parliament) and in the private sector, most were 
unemployed and left to fend for themselves without government 
 
MASERU 00000488  003.2 OF 003 
 
 
support.  In letters to donors, they reported becoming 
disillusioned by the lack of support from the new GOL. 
 
 
 
¶10.  (U) In 1997, the ruling BCP split, and most LLA members 
remained with the BCP rather than joining the new factions. 
Prime Minister Ntsu Mokhehle formed a new party, the Lesotho 
Congress for Democracy (LCD), and created a new government with 
the support of a majority of Parliament. Pakalitha Mosisili 
(Lesotho's current Prime Minister) then succeeded Mokhehle as 
party leader, and the LCD won the general elections in 1998. 
Opposition political parties rejected the election results, 
however, leading to a downward spiral ending in political 
meltdown and the burning of large portions of Maseru.  Amid the 
chaos of 1998, former LLA members appealed to the government to 
no avail to address their needs. 
 
 
 
----------------------------------- 
 
Begging for Support, Getting Little 
 
----------------------------------- 
 
 
 
¶11.  (U) In September 2004, ex-LLA members launched the Lesotho 
Liberation Army Veterans Association (LLAVA).  A steering 
committee wrote a letter to the BCP and all of its splinter 
factions asking for financial assistance.  An LLAVA press 
release stated that the organization was created to provide 
support services for ex-LLA members and their families.  Former 
LLA members met Prime Minister Mosisili in 2006.  While the 
Prime Minister promised to look into their grievances, the LLAVA 
has not received any GOL support to date.  In recent months, 
LLAVA sent letters to resident international organizations and 
diplomatic missions, including the U.S. Embassy, requesting 
financial assistance for income generating projects for their 
elderly members who are no longer able to participate in the 
labor force. 
 
 
 
-------------------------------- 
 
An Inconvenient Political Truth? 
 
-------------------------------- 
 
 
 
¶12.  (SBU) COMMENT:  The LLA's long history closely tracks that 
of independent Lesotho itself.  As LLA veterans appeared to be 
reduced to begging for GOL and donor handouts, the possible 
reemergence of remnants of the group has surprised some local 
observers, but poses no visible threat to the current political 
equation.  The LCD-led government of Lesotho firmly and 
unequivocally places the blame for recent attacks on the 
nation's legally elected political opposition (particularly the 
All Basotho Convention party under Thomas Thabane).  Police 
allegations that former LLA members may be involved, however, 
either undermines the GOL's adamant theory that the opposition 
parties are the sole perpetrators or suggests that the parties 
may be hiring local mercenaries to weaken the LCD government. 
END COMMENT. 
MURPHY