A MARTÍNEZ, HOST:
President Donald Trump is defending his administration's foreign aid cuts. In his Tuesday night address, one country got a special mention. Here's Kate Bartlett.
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "LESOTHO, LAND OF OUR FATHERS ")
UNIDENTIFIED MUSICAL GROUP: (Singing in Sesotho).
KATE BARTLETT, BYLINE: The national anthem of Lesotho, a small Southern African nation dubbed the Kingdom in the Sky for its majestic mountains. But according to President Trump, who struggled to pronounce its name, it's an example of wasted U.S. humanitarian aid dollars.
(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)
PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: Eight million dollars to promote LGBTQI+ in the African nation of Lesotho, which nobody has ever heard of.
(LAUGHTER)
BARTLETT: NPR got hold of Lesotho's foreign minister, Lejone Mpotjoane, and asked him what he thought of the president's remarks.
LEJONE MPOTJOANE: We are shocked by the statement that no one knows about Lesotho.
BARTLETT: The country has a population of some 2.3 million and is a former British protectorate surrounded entirely by South Africa.
MPOTJOANE: Lesotho and the United States of America have a long bilateral relation since the independence of the Mountain Kingdom of Lesotho in 1966.
BARTLETT: While it's not clear exactly what LGBTQ-earmarked funds Trump was referring to, impoverished Lesotho has long been a recipient of USAID money. Much of that goes towards HIV treatment and prevention in a country where about a quarter of a million people are living with the disease.
TLOHANG LETSIE: Lesotho, like other countries, has really been affected by the cuts in funding that President Trump's administration has put into place in recent days.
BARTLETT: Tlohang Letsie is a politics lecturer at the National University of Lesotho.
LETSIE: The cut of the HIV/AIDS-related funding to Lesotho has been a very, very serious blow.
BARTLETT: Letsie said Trump's comments that no one knows where Lesotho is were uncalled for.
LETSIE: He should understand that despite the fact that he is the president of a large country, he has the responsibility to respect his counterparts, no matter how small or poor their countries are.
BARTLETT: But despite the slight, Minister Mpotjoane invited Trump to visit the capital, Maseru, and see the country for himself.
MPOTJOANE: I will be happy to receive his excellency the president here in Maseru. Indeed, we do have a golf course near the American embassy here in Maseru.
BARTLETT: Trump's African-born adviser, Elon Musk, can place the country on a map. He met Lesotho's prime minister just months ago to discuss taking his Starlink satellite internet service there.
For NPR News, I'm Kate Bartlett in Johannesburg. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
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