INDEPENDENCE DAY REMARKS

JULY 4, 2002

Ambassador Robert G. Loftis

His Majesty, King Letsie III;

His Highness Prince Seeiso Bereng Seeiso;

The Right Honorable the Prime Minister Pakalitha Mosisili;

His Excellency Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Education Lehohla;

Your Excellencies, Ministers of the Government of Lesotho;

Your Excellency, the President of the Senate;

Your Excellency, the Speaker of the National Assembly;

Your Worships, Justices of the High Court;

Your Excellencies, members of the Diplomatic Corps;

Representatives of the Lesotho Defence Forces, Lesotho Mounted Police Services, and National Security Services;

Leaders of the Political Parties;

Distinguished guests: 

            Two hundred and twenty six years ago an extraordinary group of men gathered together at the risk of their lives and livelihoods to declare the independence of a new nation.  It was a bold act, defying one of the most powerful countries on the planet and the original home of most of the rebellious colonists.  But the premise on which this new country was founded was even bolder: that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain inalienable rights, among them life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. The Declaration of Independence said that governing was not a right but a privilege, and this privilege derived not from some dynastic imperative or divine intervention, but from the will of the people.  In a world whose defining political system for millennia had been obeisance to authority, this was a breathtakingly revolutionary step.

Our Founding Fathers were not just speaking for the first generation of Americans.   In every corner of the globe today, the democratic ideal is the norm.  Even the most tyrannical regimes dare not directly challenge the central power of democracy.  Indeed, they pay it a bizarre tribute by rigging and stealing elections to maintain a thin veneer of respectability over their hold on power.

The democracy under which the United States began life was far from perfect.  It excluded women from political life, and even worse, continued the horrible practice of slavery.  It took a long and bloody civil war to end that abomination and another 80 years before black Americans were afforded their full civil rights.  More than 100 years were to pass before women won the right to vote.   Even today, we are still searching for ways to make our democracy better and more representative.  And that is the point: democracy is not perfect, but it can always be improved upon.

Four years ago, the people of Lesotho decided that the model of democracy they had used since independence no longer adequately served their needs.  They began a long, arduous and often contentious debate on the system to replace it.

 The fruits of that debate were evident in the elections of May 25 and the new Parliament sworn in on June 10.  There are now 10 political parties in the National Assembly, nine of them members of the loyal opposition.  The U.S. Embassy was among the first to declare these elections free and fair, based upon our own close observation of the election and our conversations with the 200 other international observers.   The Independent Electoral Commission deserves a great deal of credit for the way it ran this election, and we congratulate every party that won seats in the new National Assembly.  Of course, you realize that the most important question in politics is: “what have you done for me lately.”  So, for the next five years, the government has the challenge of convincing the voters that they made the right choice in returning them to office.  And the opposition has the next five years to persuade the voters that their parties have better answers to the challenges that face this country.  Good luck to all of you.

With the election behind us, we can all turn our efforts toward meeting the needs of the Basotho people.   One of the goals of the United States is to help Africa become a greater part of the global economy.  The Africa Growth and Opportunity Act is the centerpiece of that effort.

According to statistics recently released by the United States International Trade Commission, Lesotho has taken advantage of the Africa Growth and Opportunity Act to become the tenth largest exporter to the United States from sub-Saharan Africa.  Exports in 2001 totaled US$215.3 million, up 53.3 percent from US$140.3 million in 2000.  U.S. exports to Lesotho remained steady at about US$800,000.  This improvement was all the more remarkable given that the U.S. economy was in recession for much of 2001, leading to lower imports from the region as a whole.   Trade figures for the first three months of 2002 showed continued strong growth in Lesotho’s exports to the United States.  We are working with the Government of Lesotho and the private sector here to expand and diversify the products sent to the United States.

Lesotho faces even more immediate needs because of the hardship caused by this year’s poor harvest.  The United States pledged at the World Food Summit in Rome to meet one third of the emergency food requirements for southern Africa.  We are working with the government, the United Nations and NGO’s to ensure timely delivery and distribution of the food aid.

 While we are celebrating today the anniversary of the Declaration of Independence, we must spare a moment for the memory of the tragic events of September 11.   I arrived in Lesotho on September 19, and my first encounters with Basotho were all marked by expressions of sympathy and support.  The people and government of the United States were very touched by your solidarity with us, and I am gratified by the commitment of Lesotho to join with us to win this war against terrorism.  It will not be easy, but I am confident of victory in the end.  Your support is invaluable.

 One way to ensure that victory is to rededicate ourselves to our own guiding principals and not to live in fear.

  We are privileged to have with us today the Basotho group Vocal Waves, who will sing the national anthems of the United States and Lesotho.  Before they sing, however, I ask you to charge your glasses and join me in a toast to the health of His Majesty, King Letsie III, and to the prosperity and happiness of the Basotho people.

  Thank you.

  04 july, 2002