The case for demilitarising Lesotho

ABSTRACT

The Kingdom of Lesotho spends around five per cent of its annual budget – some 700 million Maloti ($US52.6 million) in 2017 – on the Lesotho Defence Force (LDF). Lesotho’s geographical position means that the LDF has no meaningful role regarding its primary function of defending the country from external aggression and it hardly engages in its secondary functions. In addition, the LDF has a long history of interference with democratic processes and engaging in human rights abuse. The financial resources currently allocated to the LDF could do far more for security, widely defined, if they were allocated to a number of other government expenditure categories.

KEYWORDS:

• Demilitarisation
• Lesotho
• Lesotho Defence Force
• military expenditure
• human security

Notes on contributor

Tlohang W. Letsie is a PhD candidate in International Centre of Nonviolence, Durban University of Technology, Durban, South Africa.

Notes

1. “Countries with no military”.

2. Barbey, “Non-Militarisation and Countries Without Armies.”

3. Harris, “Civilianising Military Functions.”

4. Yuldrin and Ocal, “Military Expenditures, Economic Growth and Spatial Spillovers.”

5. Tian, “Military Spending, Economic Growth and Heterogeneity.”

6. Thomas and Mazrui, “Africa’s Post-Cold War Demilitarisation,” 160.

7. Harris, “Civilianising Military Functions.”

8. Willet, “Demilitarisation, Disarmament and Development in Southern Africa,” 417.

9. Ibid., 416.

10. Harris, “Improving Military Expenditure Decision-Making in Sub-Saharan Africa,” 41.

11. Harris, “South Africa’s Initiatives for Peace.”

12. Hansen, “Local Ownership in Peace Operations,” 39.

13. Gomez, and Gasper, Human Security.

14. Barbey, “Non-Militarisation and Countries Without Armies,” 162.

15. Peters, “Security Without Deadly Violence.”

16. Barbey, “Non-Militarisation and Countries Without Armies,” 162.

17. El-Tom, “Towards the Abolition of African Official Armies,” 98.

18. Harris, “The Potential of Nonviolence,” 82–3.

19. Molinari, Long-Term Benefits of Militarization in Costa Rica, 3.

20. Knoema, “World Data Atlas, Lesotho Homicide Rate.”

21. Harris et al., “ALLIES 2012 Joint Research Project to Panama City, Panama,” 10.

22. Ibid.

23. Ibid., 13.

24. Ibid.

25. BBC News, “Haiti to Reform Army after 20 Years Without.”

26. Barbey, “Non-Militarisation and Countries Without Armies,” 156–65.

27. BBC News, “Haiti to Reform Army after 20 Years Without.”

28. Heywood, Politics.

29. Ibid.

30. Matlosa and Pule, “The Military in Lesotho,” 65; Knoema, “World Data Atlas, Lesotho Homicide Rate.”

31. Mothibe, “The Military and Democratization in Lesotho,” 47–63.

32. Tefo, “Metsing Makes Shock Army Claims,” 4.

33. Ketso, Beyond Stability; see also Majoro, Pursuing Fiscal Sustainability; Khaketla, Bringing Back Hope; “Chapter-Nine: Sub-Saharan Africa,” 1.

34. Stockholm International Peace Research Institute, Military Expenditure (% of GDP).

35. Ntaote, “Defence Budget Sparks Chaos in Parly.”

36. Makoa, “Explaining Government,” 17.

37. Harris, “South Africa’s Initiatives for Peace,” 4.

38. Matlosa and Pule, “The Military in Lesotho,” 64–74.

39. Gwyntopher, “Love Your Enemies.”

40. Boloetse, “LDF Operation Triggers Mixed Reactions,” 4.

41. Ibid.

42. “Three bodies pulled from Mohale Dam”.

43. SADC, Commission of Inquiry into the circumstances surrounding the death of Brigadier [sic] Maaparankoe Mahao, Section 138 [c].

44. Harris, “The Military as a Resource for Peace-Building,” 242.

45. Ntaote, “Army Promotions Raise Eyebrows,” 2.

46. Interview with a Director in the Ministry of Social Development at MASOWE, Maseru, February 17, 2017.

47. Ibid.

48. Ibid.

49. Letsie and Harris, “Planning and Financing Security Sector Reform in Lesotho.”

50. Help Lesotho.

51. Lesotho Bureau of Statistics.

52. Ntsukunyane, “Mosisili Slams Army Critics.”

53. Makoa, “Explaining Government,” 17.

54. Parliamentary Monitoring Group, Report on Situation in Lesotho.

55. Harris, “The Military as a Resource for Peace-Building,” 242.

56. Lesotho Television’s Seotlong programme on 20 April 2017.

57. Harris, “The military as a Resource for Peace-Building,” 244.