LESOTHO
GEOGRAPHY
Total area: 30,350 km2; land area: 30,350 km2
Comparative area: slightly larger than Maryland
Land boundary: 909 km with South Africa
Coastline: none--landlocked
Maritime claims: none--landlocked
Climate: temperate; cool to cold, dry winters; hot, wet summers
Terrain: mostly highland with some plateaus, hills, and mountains
Natural resources: some diamonds and other minerals, water,
agricultural and grazing land
Land use: arable land 10%; permanent crops 0%; meadows and
pastures 66%; forest and woodland 0%; other 24%
Environment: population pressure forcing settlement in marginal
areas results in overgrazing, severe soil erosion, soil exhaustion;
desertification
Note: landlocked; surrounded by South Africa; Highlands Water
Project will control, store, and redirect water to South Africa
PEOPLE
Population: 1,801,174 (July 1991), growth rate 2.6% (1991)
Birth rate: 36 births/1,000 population (1991)
Death rate: 10 deaths/1,000 population (1991)
Net migration rate: 0 migrants/1,000 population (1991)
Infant mortality rate: 78 deaths/1,000 live births (1991)
Life expectancy at birth: 59 years male, 63 years female (1991)
Total fertility rate: 4.8 children born/woman (1991)
Nationality: noun--Mosotho (sing.), Basotho (pl.);
adjective--Basotho
Ethnic divisions: Sotho 99.7%; Europeans 1,600, Asians 800
Religion: Christian 80%, rest indigenous beliefs
Language: Sesotho (southern Sotho) and English (official); also
Zulu and Xhosa
Literacy: 59% (male 44%, female 68%) age 15 and over can
read and write (1966)
Labor force: 689,000 economically active; 86.2% of resident
population engaged in subsistence agriculture; roughly 60% of active
male labor force works in South Africa
Organized labor: there are two trade union federations; the
government favors formation of a single, umbrella trade union
confederation
GOVERNMENT
Long-form name: Kingdom of Lesotho
Type: constitutional monarchy
Capital: Maseru
Administrative divisions: 10 districts; Berea, Butha-Buthe, Leribe,
Mafeteng, Maseru, Mohales Hoek, Mokhotlong, Qachas Nek, Quthing,
Thaba-Tseka
Independence: 4 October 1966 (from UK; formerly Basutoland)
Constitution: 4 October 1966, suspended January 1970
Legal system: based on English common law and Roman-Dutch law;
judicial review of legislative acts in High Court and Court of Appeal;
has not accepted compulsory ICJ jurisdiction
National holiday: Independence Day, 4 October (1966)
Executive branch: monarch, chairman of the Military Council,
Military Council, Council of Ministers (cabinet)
Legislative branch: none--the bicameral Parliament was dissolved
following the military coup in January 1986; note--a National Constituent
Assembly convened in June 1990 to rewrite the constitution and debate
issues of national importance, but it has no legislative authority
Judicial branch: High Court, Court of Appeal
Leaders:
Chief of State--King LETSIE III (since 12 November 1990 following
dismissal of his father, exiled King MOSHOESHOE II, by Maj. Gen.
LEKHANYA);
Head of Government--Chairman of the Military Council Col.
Elias Phisoana RAMAEMA (since 30 April 1991)
Political parties and leaders:
Basotho National Party (BNP), Matete MAJARA (interim leader);
Basutoland Congress Party (BCP), Ntsu MOKHEHLE;
National Independent Party (NIP), A. C. MANYELI;
Marematlou Freedom Party (MFP), S. H. MAPHELEBA;
United Democratic Party, Charles MOFELI;
Communist Party of Lesotho (CPL), Jacob KENYA
Suffrage: universal at age 21
Elections:
National Assembly--dissolved following the military coup in
January 1986; military has pledged elections will take place in June 1992
Communists: small Lesotho Communist Party
Member of: ACP, AfDB, C, CCC, ECA, FAO, G-77, GATT, IBRD, ICAO,
ICFTU, IDA, IFAD, IFC, ILO, IMF, INTERPOL, IOC, ITU, LORCS,
NAM, OAU, SACU, SADCC, UN, UNCTAD, UNESCO, UNHCR, UNIDO, UPU, WCL,
WHO, WIPO, WMO, WTO
Diplomatic representation: Ambassador W. T. VAN TONDER; Chancery at
2511 Massachusetts Avenue NW, Washington DC 20008; telephone (202)
797-5 534;
US--Ambassador Leonard H.O. SPEARMAN, Jr.; Embassy at address NA,
Maseru (mailing address is P. O. Box 333, Maseru 100); telephone 266
312666
Flag: divided diagonally from the lower hoist side corner; the
upper half is white bearing the brown silhouette of a large shield with
crossed spear and club; the lower half is a diagonal blue band with a
green triangle in the corner
ECONOMY
Overview: Small, landlocked, and mountainous, Lesotho has no
important natural resources other than water. Its economy is based on
agriculture, light manufacturing, and remittances from laborers employed
in South Africa ($153 million in 1989). The great majority of households
gain their livelihoods from subsistence farming and migrant labor.
Manufacturing depends largely on farm products to support the milling,
canning, leather, and jute industries; other industries include textile,
clothing, and light engineering. Industry's share of GDP rose from
6% in 1982 to 15% in 1989. Political and economic instability in South
Africa raise uncertainties for Lesotho's economy, especially with respect
to migrant worker remittances--over one-third of GDP.
GDP: $420 million, per capita $240; real growth rate 4.0% (1990
est.)
Inflation rate (consumer prices): 15% (1990 est.)
Unemployment rate: 23% (1988)
Budget: revenues $280 million; expenditures $288 million, including
capital expenditures of $NA (FY92 est.)
Exports: $66 million (f.o.b., 1989);
commodities--wool, mohair, wheat, cattle, peas, beans, corn, hides,
skins, baskets;
partners--South Africa 53%, EC 30%, North and South America 13%
(1989)
Imports: $499 million (f.o.b., 1989);
commodities--mainly corn, building materials, clothing, vehicles,
machinery, medicines, petroleum, oil, and lubricants;
partners--South Africa 95%, EC 2% (1989)
External debt: $370 million (December 1990 est.)
Industrial production: growth rate 7.8% (1989 est.); accounts
for 15% of GDP
Electricity: power supplied by South Africa
Industries: food, beverages, textiles, handicrafts, tourism
Agriculture: accounts for 18% of GDP and employs 60-70% of
all households; exceedingly primitive, mostly subsistence farming and
livestock; principal crops are corn, wheat, pulses, sorghum, barley
Economic aid: US commitments, including Ex-Im (FY70-89), $268
million; Western (non-US) countries, ODA and OOF bilateral commitments
(1970-88), $754 million; OPEC bilateral aid (1979-89), $4 million;
Communist countries (1970-89), $14 million
Currency: loti (plural--maloti); 1 loti (L) = 100 lisente
Exchange rates: maloti (M) per US$1--2.5625 (January 1991),
2.5863 (1990), 2.6166 (1989), 2.2611 (1988), 2.0350 (1987), 2.2685
(1986), 2.1911 (1985); note--the Basotho loti is at par with the South
African rand
Fiscal year: 1 April-31 March
COMMUNICATIONS
Railroads: 1.6 km; owned, operated, and included in the statistics
of South Africa
Highways: 5,167 km total; 508 km paved; 1,585 km crushed stone,
gravel, or stabilized soil; 946 km improved earth, 2,128 km unimproved
earth
Civil air: 2 major transport aircraft
Airports: 28 total, 28 usable; 3 with permanent surface runways;
none with runways over 3,659 m; 1 with runways 2,440-3,659 m;
2 with runways 1,220-2,439 m
Telecommunications: rudimentary system consisting of a few land
lines, a small radio relay system, and minor radiocommunication stations;
5,920 telephones; stations--2 AM, 2 FM, 1 TV; 1 Atlantic Ocean INTELSAT
earth station
DEFENSE FORCES
Branches: Royal Lesotho Defense Force (RLDF; includes Army, Air
Wing), Royal Lesotho Mounted Police
Manpower availability: males 15-49, 394,829; 212,967 fit for
military service
Defense expenditures: $55 million, 8.6% of GDP (1990 est.)