Lesotho was stunned by US President Donald Trump’s mockery of the southern African nation, its overseas minister has mentioned, vowing that the nation was “not taking this matter frivolously”.
Trump referred to as Lesotho a rustic “no person has ever heard of” as he defended his sweeping cuts in help throughout an handle to Congress on Tuesday. He singled out a previous US help undertaking of “eight million {dollars} to advertise LGBTQI+ within the African nation of Lesotho”.
“Which no person has ever heard of,” he added, as Republican lawmakers laughed.
On Wednesday the Lesotho authorities was “shocked and embarrassed” by the feedback, the overseas minister, Lejone Mpotjoane, advised AFP.
“We didn’t anticipate a head of state to refer to a different sovereign nation in such a way,” he mentioned.
The US has an embassy within the capital Maseru, and American volunteers serve within the common Peace Corps programme.
“We’re not taking this matter frivolously,” Mpotjoane mentioned, including that they’d ship an official protest letter to Washington.
The nation’s principal LGBTQ rights organisation denied receiving funds from Washington, and which precise programme Trump was referring to remained unclear on Wednesday.
“We are actually not receiving grants from the US,” Folks’s Matrix spokesperson Tampose Mothopeng mentioned.
“We do not know of the allocation of eight million [dollars]” he mentioned. The US authorities overseas help web site didn’t checklist any monetary help for LGBTQ rights in Lesotho, a nation of two.3 million folks. As an alternative, it indicated that about $120m had been spent on “well being and inhabitants” programmes within the nation in 2024, together with $43.5m to deal with HIV/Aids.
The small mountainous kingdom surrounded by South Africa has the second-highest stage of HIV an infection of the world, with nearly one in 4 adults HIV-positive. The US has dedicated greater than $630m since 2006 to anti-HIV/Aids efforts in Lesotho, in response to the US embassy there. Greater than 30 non-governmental organisations warned in mid-February that the nation’s HIV programmes had been vulnerable to collapse after the lack of US overseas help.
When Trump halted just about all US overseas help in the beginning of February, volunteers in Lesotho had been instructed to cease any HIV-related prevention programming, in response to emails reviewed by the Guardian on the time.
On Wednesday morning, Lesotho residents wakened confused at Trump’s remark.
“Ever heard of Kingdom within the Sky? Guess not, too busy {golfing} to note,” journalist and activist Kananelo Boloetse posted on social media platform X.
“Lesotho’s the one nation on the planet totally above 1,000 metres elevation, increased than your approval rankings ever acquired,” he posted, including: “We’re right here, we’re proud, and we’re not your punchline.”
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