Lesotho surprised by Donald Trump’s comments that “nobody has heard of the country”

Lesotho’s government says that the president of the United States, Donald Trump, says that “no one has heard of” the South African Nation.

Trump, heading to the United States Congress in his first speech since his return to the Oval office, made the reference when he listed the cuts made to what he said was a wasteful expense.

“Eight million dollars to promote LGBTQI+ in the African nation of Lesotho, of which no one has heard,” Trump said, causing laughter from some US legislators.

A spokesman for the Foreign Department of Lesotho told the BBC that Lesotho enjoyed the “warm and cordial” relationships with the United States.

Lesotho benefits from the Law of Growth and African Opportunities of the United States (AUGA), which provides favorable commercial access to some countries to promote their economic growth.

Lesotho’s Foreign Minister, Discane Mpotjoane, said it was “shocking” to listen to a head of state “refer to another sovereign state in that way.”

“To my surprise, ‘the country that nobody has heard of’ is the country where the United States has a permanent mission,” Mpotjoane told the BBC.

“Lesotho is a member of the UN and several other international organizations. And the United States has an embassy here and (there are) several US organizations that we have accommodated here in Maseru.”

The authorities ruled out Trump’s comments as “outside the bracelet” and a “political statement”, adding that they were “without place” given the good relations between the two nations.

“We maintain very warm and cordial relationships with the US.

Pheko could not confirm Trump’s comments on the funds that were allocated to LGBTQ organizations, saying that as money was directly addressed to them, they would be better located to comment.

Mpotjoane, on the other hand, confirmed that the country had been affected by Trump’s sudden decision to stop the financing of helping countries around the world.

Many organizations, mostly non -governmental, were thrown into chaos after the Trump administration announced a permanent purpose for the emergency plan of the president of the president of the United States for the relief of AIDS (Pepfar) as part of a broader impulse to reduce the expenditure of the United States government.

Pepfar was launched in 2003 by the then president of the United States, George W Bush, and his finances are distributed through the main agency for abroad of the US government. UU. USAID, whose funds have also been reduced.

Lesotho is among those countries that benefited from Pepfar, his Ministry of Health told Publication Publicats Groundup in February, with TB and HIV programs among those who receive critical funds.

But Mpotjoane refused to criticize this decision, saying that it was the “prerogative of the United States to reduce help if they wish.”