UNESCO. General Conference; 30th; Records ... - unesdoc - Unesco

27.3 Mr President, in the past year Lesotho has experienced a series of troubles and challenges to its
democratic process, sparked by opposition parties’ protests following the May 1998 general elections in the
country, elections which the majority of the Basotho people, together with several international observers,
including those from the United Nations, the Commonwealth, the European Union, the Organization of African
Unity, the Southern African Development Community (SADC) and a variety of non-governmental organizations
had witnessed and declared free and fair and a true reflection of the real wish of the people. The riots which
followed, however, shook the very soul of the nation, gutted the towns of Maseru, the capital, Mohale’s Hoek and
Mafeteng, and left many people of Lesotho confused, frightened and without any means of livelihood.
27.4 For the reasons mentioned above, Lesotho would like to take this opportunity to express her deep
gratitude to the international community for the unhesitating solidarity it accorded her in support of democracy.
Our deepest gratitude goes to our colleagues and neighbours in the Southern African Development Community
region who had the political and moral courage to come to the rescue of democratic principles in which they and
the many people of Southern Africa believe. It is indeed very heartening to realize that leaders and governments
in that region are prepared to pay a lot more in defence of democracy. As a result of their timely intervention,
Lesotho is once more on course in her efforts to promote democracy. Subsequent to the intervention, an Interim
Political Authority was set up at the initiative of SADC, in which all political parties which contested the May
1998 elections are represented. The objective of the Authority is to level the ground in preparation for a fresh
election in the year 2000. The political parties and the Government of Lesotho have agreed to settle their
differences through negotiations, and a new model of voting has been agreed upon, which is a mixture of the
“first-past-the-post” and “proportional representation” systems. Another election will be held in the year 2000
which we hope will bring back lasting peace and stability to our country.
27.5 Mr President, in the light of our recent experiences as outlined above, Lesotho welcomes and commits
itself to the United Nations declaration of the year 2000 as the International Year for the Culture of Peace. One
does not need to be a genius to realize that peace has become a very rare commodity in the world today, and that
we all need to recommit ourselves to peace in order to make the world a better, more human life-friendly place in
the new millennium. Recent troubles in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Kosovo and East Timor, to name
but a few countries, are a true testimony to this fact.
27.6 Mr President, Lesotho faces many serious challenges in the coming new era - challenges of fighting
poverty and starvation, creating jobs for the people of Lesotho, especially youth, and empowering rural women,
many of whom are heads of households who receive neither recognition nor training for this important role they
play in the development of their beloved country. All these challenges can only be adequately met if there is
peace on the ground, because no sustainable economic development is possible without lasting peace and
democracy.
27.7 Mr President, another important commitment Lesotho has decided to embark on in the year 2000 is that
of introducing free primary education for the children of the country. You will perhaps all agree with us that this
is one decision that should have been taken a long time ago, but it is also an undeniable fact that an exercise of
this magnitude does depend on several crucial factors including the economic status of a country. Lesotho is
convinced that education is a basic need and a right of every child, and therefore deems it unacceptable that a
child’s access to basic education should depend on his or her parents’ wealth or lack thereof. It is therefore
incumbent on governments, even in developing countries such as ours, to make at least primary education easily
accessible to all children. We will all recall that leaders of the world and their partners in education met at
Jomtien in Thailand in 1990, and made a commitment to endeavour to make basic education accessible to all
children of school-going age by the year 2000. We have no doubt that Lesotho will meet her commitment with
the support of all her partners in development.
27.8 Mr President, communities throughout the world are poised rather anxiously to enter the new
millennium. It is our firm belief that, through science, technology, culture and ethics our world will stride safely
into the twenty-first century. In particular, that entry into the new era will be a relatively safe one for the
developing countries of the world. As we all know, talk of being Y2K-compliant is rife in international, regional
and national forums. However, such compliance depends, to a large measure, on close cooperation at all levels as
well as willingness to commit adequate resources. Otherwise, the millennium bug will infest us, with devastating
consequences. For her own part, Lesotho is doing what she can to ensure compliance so that in communication,
transport, health, water, banking and other crucial areas of human existence we do not become trapped in
otherwise avoidable problems. As UNESCO is one of the organizations spearheading research and development
in the fields of science and communication, we have reason to be confident that our future in the new millennium
will be safe under the Organization’s auspices and guidance.
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