Nearly two-thirds of the Irish nationals working in Lesotho, the majority of them aid workers, have left the troubled country, the Irish Ambassador, Mr Tom Wright, told The Irish Times yesterday.
Of the 93 Irish citizens in Lesotho, a tiny country surrounded by South Africa, 59 had left by 12.30 p.m. yesterday, Mr Wright said. Of those remaining 20 were located in the mountains and 14 were in Maseru, the capital, which has witnessed fierce fighting between intervening South African and Botswana troops and the Lesotho Defence Force.
The Ambassador, who spoke to The Irish Times by mobile phone shortly after himself crossing the border into South Africa, stressed that Irish nationals still in Lesotho had chosen to remain. "Anybody who wanted to leave could have done so," he said.
Those who decided to stay were not in immediate danger, he added. While there was a great deal of anger about South Africa's military intervention, "no violence had been directed toward expatriates".
Faced with a deteriorating situation as the Lesotho government lost control of Maseru, Mr Wright closed the Irish Embassy on Monday and left yesterday himself after ensuring that Irish nationals who wanted to leave could do so.
Ms Margaret McCormack of Dublin, an Irish Aid volunteer, had been about to leave Ladybrand, on the South African side of the border, for Lesotho on Tuesday when she was told of the presence of South Africa troops in Lesotho and advised to stay. Most Irish nationals in Lesotho worked either for Irish Aid or the Agency for Personal Service Overseas, she said.
Mr Wright declined to comment on the South African military intervention, but another observer from the diplomatic corps was scathingly critical.
The South African soldiers or, more accurately, their commanders, had overestimated their military prowess and underestimated that of their Lesotho counterparts. The result had been a series of pitched and bloody battles.
The intervention was bitterly resented by most Basotho, as the citizens of Lesotho are known, and their anger had been vented in a frenzy of arson and looting, initially directed at South African-owned shops but later degenerating into indiscriminate vandalism.
About a third of the buildings and shops on Kingsway, Lesotho's main street, had been set alight and destroyed, at huge cost to Lesotho, one of the most impoverished states in the world.
While critical of South Africa's intervention, the diplomat, like many of his colleagues, believed that the May 23rd election which brought Prime Minister Pakalitha Mosisili to power was essentially free and fair.
The tragedy of South Africa's intervention was that it had generated intense hostility to South Africa and ruined its chances of acting as an honest broker in the bitter and costly post-election conflict.