Nine things about the country Donald Trump says ‘nobody has ever heard of’

US President Donald Trump has mentioned that “no one has ever heard of” the African nation of Lesotho – a remark that has “shocked” its government.

It’s a small nation in southern Africa that nearly solely consists of mountains and is totally surrounded by South Africa.

Listed below are 9 issues to know concerning the nation:

The Kingdom of Lesotho is made up largely of highlands, the place many villages can solely be reached on horseback, by foot or mild plane.

It is named the “Kingdom within the Sky” and is the one impartial state on the planet that lies solely above 1,000m (3,281ft) in elevation, based on Encyclopaedia Britannica. Its lowest level is at 1,400m.

It’s recognized to have one of many world’s most intimidating airstrips to land on – the Matekane Airstrip has a brief runway and with lengthy drops at each ends.

The Enterprise Insider web site describes flying from the airport as “basically the identical as when a chicken is pushed out of the nest with a view to study to fly”.

Lesotho is totally encircled by South Africa, however separated by the forbidding mountain ranges.

Not a lot of its land is accessible for farming, with its inhabitants weak to meals shortages and counting on earnings from jobs in South Africa. Over the many years hundreds of employees have been compelled by the dearth of job alternatives at residence to seek out work in South Africa.

The folks of Lesotho, who quantity greater than two million, share some cultural and language similarities with South Africans. Their language, Sesotho, can be certainly one of South Africa’s 11 official languages. In actual fact, extra folks converse it in South Africa – 4.6 million – than in Lesotho.

Assets are scarce in Lesotho – a consequence of the cruel surroundings of the highland plateau and restricted agricultural area within the lowlands.

Its largest useful resource is water – recognized regionally as white gold – which is exported to South Africa. Diamonds are one other main export.

Once you consider snowboarding and snowboarding, you could think about the snowy slopes of Europe and North America.

However Lesotho has been making itself recognized on the snowsports scene. It has the best ski resort in sub-Saharan Africa, certainly one of only a handful on the continent.

Afriski is located 3,222m above sea degree, excessive up in Lesotho’s Maloti mountains and attracts guests from Africa and past.

Folks from Lesotho are known as Basotho.

Among the cultural objects related to the Basotho persons are their blankets and the Basotho conventional conical hats, often known as the mokorotlo. The hat is a nationwide image and seems in the course of the nation’s flag.

The blankets are constructed from thick wool, with their intricate and vibrant patterns every telling a special story of the Basotho folks’s historical past. The Basotho put on them as shawls at particular occasions and provides them as items.

Lesotho has one of many highest charges of HIV prevalence on the planet, with one in 5 adults dwelling with HIV, and extra infections per 100,000 folks than most different nations, together with neighbouring Namibia, Botswana and Eswatini.

The US authorities has dedicated almost $1bn to assist the nation take care of HIV since 2006, together with for prevention, care and therapy companies, based on the US State Division.

Like the UK, Lesotho is a constitutional monarchy. Which means that though it has a royal household, an elected prime minister runs the nation.

Lesotho’s Prince Seeiso – the youthful brother of present King Letsie III – is shut mates with the UK’s Prince Harry.

The pair have arrange a charity in Lesotho – Sentebale, which suggests “neglect me not”. The organisation works with native communities within the nation at grassroots degree, serving to younger folks affected by HIV/Aids.

Prince Harry first went to Lesotho as a 19-year-old and has returned to the nation many occasions since then.

Denims have lengthy been related to the American West however these days, most of the pairs worn within the US have come from midway the world over, in Lesotho.

Lesotho’s garment factories have made denims for iconic American manufacturers reminiscent of Levi’s and Wrangler lately. In consequence, Lesotho has develop into often known as the “denim capital of Africa”.

And it’s not simply denims – Lesotho is certainly one of sub-Saharan Africa’s largest exporters of clothes usually to the US.

Final yr, Lesotho exported $237m (£184m) value of garments and textiles to the US by way of the African Development and Alternative Act (Agoa), which permits eligible African nations to ship some items to the US with out paying taxes.

It’s ranked second by worth of products exported underneath the deal.

A lot of Lesotho’s clothes and textile factories are owned by Chinese language and Taiwanese migrants.

The mountain kingdom has the world’s highest suicide charge, with 87.5 folks per 100,000 of the inhabitants taking their very own life yearly, based on the UN World Well being Group.

That is almost 10 occasions the worldwide common of 9 and greater than double the nation with the second highest charge, Guyana, which has about 40.

There isn’t a single purpose for this surprising statistic – specialists level to the abuse of medication and alcohol, the scarcity of jobs and the dearth of psychological well being counselling.

Extra reporting by Wedaeli Chibelushi