US embassy cable - 05MASERU545

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 MASERU 000545 
 
SIPDIS 
 
DEPT FOR AF/S 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: PREL, PHUM, SOCI, KHIV, OPRC, SCUL, LT, UNGA 
SUBJECT: UN CEREMONIES UNDERSCORE U.S. GOALS 
 
 
MASERU 00000545  001.2 OF 002 
 
 
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OPENING SESSION 
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1.  Lesotho headquarters of the United Nations kicked off its 
celebration of the UN ceremony with a program at the Maseru 
Convention Center.  During the commemorative event, specific 
U.S. objectives such as poverty alleviation, Millennium 
Challenge goals and the war against HIV/AIDS were recognized by 
a number of speakers.  The Minister of Finance (key note 
speaker) addressed at length the need to work closely with 
donors to reach the fundamental goals of poverty reduction. 
United Nation's Resident Coordinator, Mrs. Hodan Haji-Mohamud, 
specifically thanked the United States as well as the European 
Union for their important roles as partners in achieving 
international objectives, especially in addressing the AIDS 
pandemic and seeking methods to eliminate poverty worldwide and 
specifically in Lesotho. 
 
2.  The Acting Foreign Minister (Minister of Local Government) 
Dr. Pontso Sekatle, said in her closing remarks that Lesotho 
supported UN measures (including several) sought by the U.S., 
viz the establishment of a Peace Building Commission (one of our 
goals during the UN Summit) and the establishment of the UN 
Council (eliminating The Commission on Human Rights has been one 
of our top priorities over the past 2 years.)   We secured 
Lesotho's support in making the essential reform to move from 
the Commission to the Human Rights Council.  In other 
activities, primarily held at the National University of 
Lesotho, projects of United Nation's agencies here on the 
ground, e.g. UNICEF, WHO and UNDP, were recognized.  Students 
and faculty as well as government officials participated in the 
2nd day's ceremony. 
 
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NATIONAL UNIVERSITY OF LESOTHO PROGRAM 
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3.  Minister Thahane traced the history of the UN from the end 
of the second World War, when nations came together to create 
conditions of collective security and avert future wars.  Over 
the years nations recognized that the definition of security did 
not only end with the absence of war, but evolved to address 
issues on economic development, and an end to hunger, disease 
and ignorance.  Minister Thahane commended the Acting Vice 
Chancellor for raising the profile of the university, and 
charged students to undertake research into the relevance of the 
UN to Lesotho, and to monitor Lesotho's performance in achieving 
agreed Millennium Development goals.  He added that Lesotho 
would undertake a national census in April next year and would 
form the baseline for planning and measuring future 
achievements.  He looked forward to the involvement of NUL 
students in the exercise. 
 
4.  The UN Resident Coordinator discussed the Millennium 
Development Goals, which had received broad political 
consensus. These goals, she said, are measurable landmarks used 
as tools for assessing the country's progress in making health 
and education accessible to all, and in reducing poverty.  She 
commended Lesotho for its achievement in introducing free 
primary education, and for incorporating the goals into her 
Poverty Strategy Paper and the 2020 Vision.  She highlighted the 
vulnerability of women to poverty, violence, HIV/AIDS, and 
pointed out that investment in women was essential to achieving 
most of the goals. 
 
5.  The UNICEF representative launched a five-year UNICEF/UNAIDS 
campaign on children and HIV/AIDS, whose theme is " Unite for 
Children. Unite Against AIDS".   He called on the Lesotho 
government to put children at the top of the political agenda by 
accelerating programs intended to support their well-being. 
 
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COMMENT 
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6.  We found the tenor of the United Nations events reflective 
of two (2) things:   1) the collaborative manner in which we 
have been working with the Resident Coordinator to ensure that 
USG goals and objectives are primarily foci of the UN programs 
here in Lesotho,  and 2) a singular avoidance of any criticism 
of U.S. foreign policy.  Post has been diligently providing 
public information on the situations in Iraq, Guantanamo and 
Afghanistan as well as on our own Millennium Challenge 
Corporation (MCC) goals and those of the President's Emergency 
Plan for AIDS Reduction (PEPFAR).  We believe having a series of 
such large public events with very positive statements about 
U.S. programs being made throughout, is an indication that we 
are reaching both our public diplomacy and policy objectives 
amongst leaders in Lesotho as well as amongst our partners in 
 
MASERU 00000545  002.2 OF 002 
 
 
the international community.  End Comment 
 
 
PERRY