]! ^! Basutoland was renamed the Kingdom of Lesotho upon independence from the UK in 1966. King MOSHOESHOE was exiled in 1990, but returned to Lesotho in 1992 and reinstated in 1995. Constitutional government was restored in 1993 after 23 years of military rule. In 1998, violent protests and a military mutiny following a contentious election prompted a brief but bloody intervention by South African and Botswanan military forces under the aegis of the Southern African Development Community. Constitutional reforms have since restored political stability; peaceful parliamentary elections were held in 2002. 
]" ^" Southern Africa, an enclave of South Africa ^# 29 30 S, 28 30 E ^$ Africa ^% `! 30,355 sq km `" 30,355 sq km `# 0 sq km ^& slightly smaller than Maryland ^' `! 909 km `U South Africa 909 km ^( 0 km (landlocked) ^) none (landlocked) ^* temperate; cool to cold, dry winters; hot, wet summers ^+ mostly highland with plateaus, hills, and mountains ^, `% junction of the Orange and Makhaleng Rivers 1,400 m `& Thabana Ntlenyana 3,482 m ^- water, agricultural and grazing land, diamonds, sand, clay, building stone ^. `' 10.87% `( 0.13% `) 89% (2001) ^/ 10 sq km (1998 est.) ^0 periodic droughts ^1 population pressure forcing settlement in marginal areas results in overgrazing, severe soil erosion, and soil exhaustion; desertification; Highlands Water Project controls, stores, and redirects water to South Africa _J `K Biodiversity, Climate Change, Climate Change-Kyoto Protocol, Desertification, Endangered Species, Hazardous Wastes, Marine Life Conservation, Ozone Layer Protection `L Law of the Sea ^2 landlocked, completely surrounded by South Africa; mountainous, more than 80% of the country is 1,800 meters above sea level 
]# ^3 1,867,035 note: estimates for this country explicitly take into account the effects of excess mortality due to AIDS; this can result in lower life expectancy, higher infant mortality and death rates, lower population and growth rates, and changes in the distribution of population by age and sex than would otherwise be expected (July 2005 est.) ^4 `* 36.9% (male 346,930/female 342,459) `+ 57.6% (male 526,642/female 548,096) `, 5.5% (male 42,003/female 60,905) (2005 est.) ^5 `! 20.19 years `- 19.68 years `. 20.74 years (2005 est.) ^6 0.08% (2005 est.) ^7 26.53 births/1,000 population (2005 est.) ^8 25.03 deaths/1,000 population (2005 est.) ^9 -0.74 migrant(s)/1,000 population (2005 est.) ^: `/ 1.03 male(s)/female `0 1.01 male(s)/female `+ 0.96 male(s)/female `, 0.69 male(s)/female `1 0.96 male(s)/female (2005 est.) ^; `! 84.23 deaths/1,000 live births `- 89.11 deaths/1,000 live births `. 79.21 deaths/1,000 live births (2005 est.) ^< `1 34.47 years `- 35.49 years `. 33.42 years (2005 est.) ^= 3.35 children born/woman (2005 est.) ^> 28.9% (2003 est.) ^? 320,000 (2003 est.) ^@ 29,000 (2003 est.) ^A `2 Mosotho (singular), Basotho (plural) `3 Basotho ^B Sotho 99.7%, Europeans, Asians, and other 0.3%, ^C Christian 80%, indigenous beliefs 20% ^D Sesotho (southern Sotho), English (official), Zulu, Xhosa ^E `M age 15 and over can read and write `1 84.8% `- 74.5% `. 94.5% (2003 est.) 
]$ ^F `4 Kingdom of Lesotho `5 Lesotho `X Basutoland ^H parliamentary constitutional monarchy ^I Maseru ^J 10 districts; Berea, Butha-Buthe, Leribe, Mafeteng, Maseru, Mohale's Hoek, Mokhotlong, Qacha's Nek, Quthing, Thaba-Tseka ^K 4 October 1966 (from UK) ^L Independence Day, 4 October (1966) ^M 2 April 1993 ^N 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 ^O 18 years of age; universal ^P `6 King LETSIE III (since 7 February 1996); note - King LETSIE III formerly occupied the throne from November 1990 to February 1995, while his father was in exile `7 Prime Minister Pakalitha MOSISILI (since 23 May 1998) `8 Cabinet `9 none; according to the constitution, the leader of the majority party in the Assembly automatically becomes prime minister; the monarch is hereditary, but, under the terms of the constitution, which came into effect after the March 1993 election, the monarch is a "living symbol of national unity" with no executive or legislative powers; under traditional law the college of chiefs has the power to determine who is next in the line of succession, who shall serve as regent in the event that the successor is not of mature age, and may even depose the monarch ^Q bicameral Parliament consists of the Senate (33 members - 22 principal chiefs and 11 other members appointed by the ruling party) and the Assembly (120 seats, 80 by direct popular vote and 40 by proportional vote; members elected by popular vote for five-year terms); note - number of seats in the Assembly rose from 80 to 120 in the May 2002 election `9 last held 25 May 2002 (next to be held May 2007) `: percent of vote by party - LCD 54%, BNP 21%, LPC 7%, other 18%; seats by party - LCD 76, BNP 21, LPC 5, other 18 ^R High Court (chief justice appointed by the monarch acting on the advice of the Prime Minister); Court of Appeal; Magistrate's Court; customary or traditional court ^S Basotholand African Congress or BAC [Khauhelo RALITAPOLE]; Basotholand Congress Party or BCP [Ntsukunyane MPHANYA]; Basotho National Party or BNP [Maj. Gen. Justine Metsing LEKHANYA]; Lesotho Congress for Democracy or LCD [Pakalitha MOSISILI] - the governing party; Lesotho People's Congress or LPC [Kelebone MAOPE]; Lesotho Workers Party of LWP [Macaefa BILLY]; Marematlou Freedom Party or MFP [Vincent MALEBO]; National Independent Party or NIP [Anthony MANYELI]; National Progressive Party or NPP [Chief Peete Nkoebe PEETE]; Popular Front for Democracy or PFD [Lekhetho RAKUOANE]; Sefate Democratic Party or SDP [Bofihla NKUEBE] ^T NA ^U ACP, AfDB, AU, C, The Commonwealth, FAO, G-77, IBRD, ICAO, ICCt, ICRM, IDA, IFAD, IFC, IFRCS, ILO, IMF, Interpol, IOC, ISO (subscriber), ITU, MIGA, NAM, OPCW, SACU, SADC, UN, UNCTAD, UNESCO, UNHCR, UNIDO, UPU, WCO, WFTU, WHO, WIPO, WMO, WToO, WTO ^V `N Ambassador Molelekeng E. RAPOLAKI `O 2511 Massachusetts Avenue NW, Washington, DC 20008 `P [1] (202) 797-5533 through 5536 `Q [1] (202) 234-6815 ^W `N Ambassador June Carter PERRY `Z 254 Kingsway, Maseru West (Consular Section) `[ P. O. Box 333, Maseru 100, Lesotho `P [266] 22 312666 `Q [266] 22 310116 ^X 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 
]% ^Y Small, landlocked, and mountainous, Lesotho relies on remittances from miners employed in South Africa and customs duties from the Southern Africa Customs Union for the majority of government revenue, but the government has strengthened its tax system to reduce dependency on customs duties. Completion of a major hydropower facility in January 1998 now permits the sale of water to South Africa, also generating royalties for Lesotho. As the number of mineworkers has declined steadily over the past several years, a small manufacturing base has developed based on farm products that support the milling, canning, leather, and jute industries and a rapidly growing apparel-assembly sector. The garment industry has grown significantly, mainly due to Lesotho qualifying for the trade benefits contained in the Africa Growth and Opportunity Act. The economy is still primarily based on subsistence agriculture, especially livestock, although drought has decreased agricultural activity. The extreme inequality in the distribution of income remains a major drawback. Lesotho has signed an Interim Poverty Reduction and Growth Facility with the IMF. ^Z $5.892 billion (2004 est.) ^[ 3.3% (2004 est.) ^\ purchasing power parity - $3,200 (2004 est.) ^] `; 15.2% `< 43.9% `= 40.9% (2004 est.) ^^ 838,000 (2000) ^_ 86% of resident population engaged in subsistence agriculture; roughly 35% of the active male wage earners work in South Africa ^` 45% (2002) ^a 49% (1999) _! `> 0.9% `? 43.4% _d 56 (1986-87) _" 5.3% (2004 est.) _P 39.6% of GDP (2004 est.) _# `@ $698.5 million `A $697.6 million, including capital expenditures of $15 million (2004 est.) _$ corn, wheat, pulses, sorghum, barley; livestock _% food, beverages, textiles, apparel assembly, handicrafts; construction; tourism _& 15.5% (1999) _' 314 million kWh; note - electricity supplied by South Africa (2002) _( 308 million kWh (2002) _) 0 kWh (2002) _* 16 million kWh; note - electricity supplied by South Africa (2002) _+ 0 bbl/day (2001 est.) _, 1,500 bbl/day (2001) _- NA _. NA _X $-108.3 million (2004 est.) _/ $484.5 million f.o.b. (2004 est.) _0 manufactures 75% (clothing, footwear, road vehicles), wool and mohair, food and live animals (2000) _1 US 97%, Canada 2.1%, UK 0.3% (2004) _2 $730.9 million f.o.b. (2004 est.) _3 food; building materials, vehicles, machinery, medicines, petroleum products (2000) _4 Hong Kong 46.8%, China 25.5%, South Korea 5.6%, Germany 4.8% (2004) _Y $402.2 million (2004 est.) _5 $735 million (2002) _Z ODA $4.4 million _6 $41.5 million (2000) _7 loti (LSL); South African rand (ZAR) _8 maloti per US dollar - 6.4597 (2004), 7.5648 (2003), 10.5407 (2002), 8.6092 (2001), 6.9398 (2000) _9 1 April - 31 March 
]& _: 28,600 (2002) _; 92,000 (2002) _< `B rudimentary system `C consists of a modest but growing number of landlines, a small microwave radio relay system, and a minor radiotelephone communication system; a cellular mobile telephone system is growing `D country code - 266; satellite earth station - 1 Intelsat (Atlantic Ocean) _= AM 1, FM 2, shortwave 1 (1998) _> 1 (2000) _? .ls _@ 119 (2003) _A 21,000 (2002) 
]' _B `! 5,940 km `E 1,087 km `F 4,853 km (1999) _D 28 (2004 est.) _E `! 3 `] 1 `_ 1 `T 1 (2004 est.) _L `! 25 `_ 4 `T 21 (2004 est.) 
]( _F Lesotho Defense Force (LDF): Army and Air Wing _M 18 years of age (est.); no conscription (2001) _] males age 18-49: 400,457 (2005 est.) Manpower fit for military service: males age 18-49: 162,857 (2005 est.) _N $32.3 million (2004) _O 2.3% (2004) _G the Lesotho Government in 1999 began an open debate on the future structure, size, and role of the armed forces, especially considering the Lesotho Defense Force's (LDF) history of intervening in political affairs 
]) _H none 