Whole Africa is in shock right now, as US President Donald Trump stated that nobody knows the Lesotho country. He said this while cancelling the US $8 million aid, which was used in the Southern African country to promote LGBTQ.
The Foreign Minister of Lesotho – Lejone Mpotjoana is disheartened and felt insulted when he heard this statement by Trump. Government of Lesotho said that it is very shocking coming from the US President Donald Trump saying that, “Nobody has ever heard of” this nation.
Reportedly, President Donald Trump addressed the US Congress in his first speech, since his return to the Oval Office, that made the reference as he listed the cuts made to what he said was wasteful expenditure.
Eliciting the laughter from some US lawmakers, trump said that US $8 million to promote LGBTQI+ in the African nation of Lesotho, which nobody has heard of. Spokesperson for Lesotho’s foreign affairs department told the BBC that Lesotho enjoyed ‘warm and cordial’ relations with the US.
Lesotho is one of the biggest beneficiaries of the United States African Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA) which gives favourable trade access to some countries to promote their economic growth.
According to the US government, the two countries traded goods worth of $240 million in 2024. Most of them were exported from Lesotho to the US, particularly in textiles and clothing.
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Considering this, Foreign Affairs Minister of Lesotho – Lejone Mpotjoane said that it was shocking to hear a head of state referring to another sovereign state in that manner. He added that he is surprised, the country that nobody as heard of is the country where the US has a permanent mission.
As per the sources, Lesotho is a member of the UN and of a number of other international bodies. The US has an embassy here and there consisting of a number of US organisations that they have accommodated in Maseru.
Mpotjoane later told that they are not taking this matter lightly and would send an official protest letter to the Washington.
The officials dismissed the remarks by the Trump as ‘off the cuff’ and a ‘political statement’. They also added that they were ‘uncalled-for’ maintaining the good relations between the two nations.
Spokesperson for foreign affairs Kutloano Pheko told that they maintained very warm and cordial relations with the US and have got on a mission in Maseru and they have one in Washington. Pheko added that he was unable to confirm the comments from the Trump on the funding that went to LGBTQ organisations, by saying that as the money went directly to them, they would be best placed to comment.
Foreign Minister Mpotjoane confirmed that the country was affected by Trump’s sudden decision to pause aid funding to countries around the world. Many organisations, most of the non-governmental, which were thrown into chaos after the Trump administration announced a permanent end to the US President’s Emergency Plan for Aids Relief (PEPFAR), funding as part of a wider cost-cutting drive to reduce US government spending.
PEPFAR was launched in 2003 by the then US President George W. Bush and its finances that are distributed via the US government’s main overseas aid agency USAID, whose funding was also banned.
Lesotho is among the countries that benefitted from PEPFAR. The Health Ministry told the South African publication Ground-Up in February that with TB and HIV programmes among those who received the critical funds.