spotlight madagascar

sunset in andavadoaka

As the sun sets on another long stint in the United States of America, I’m looking forward to returning to Madagascar, seemingly the only country that wants to employ me. Armed with a sparkly new degree in Sustainable Development, I make my way to Tana via Washington DC, Amsterdam, and Nairobi. Thanks a lot, World Cup, for diverting my flight path.

I’ll be working with an organization called Human Network International:

The mission of HNI is to provide communities and individuals the opportunity to embrace, reshape and maximize the use of Information and communication technology in unpredictable, productive and sustainable ways.

I’m excited to see what this entails, and how I can put all of my glorious new skills to work during the next 6 months. I’ll have internet the whole time, so I can continue to generate content for Other Places Travel, the amazing site of Other Places Publishing (my Madagascar Travel Companion is coming out this summer) and this website, of course. I’ve also been informed that I’ll have indoor plumbing – such luxury!

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Clashes in Antananarivo today between certain units of the army + gendarmes and ‘the elite intervention unit’- both confirmed and unconfirmed rumors of a protest gone haywire, one civilian wounded as a result (admittedly, the gendarmes responsible were apologetic and said that they would try to be careful of ‘collateral damage’). It has been called a ‘thwarted mutiny’…

… mutiny, eh? Not just for the high seas anymore. Some people are saying this could be the beginning of the end for Rajoelina. This story comes on the heels of reports of soldiers raiding an allegedly ‘opposition’ radio station, assaulting staff and journalists, a couple of days ago.

In other terrible news, hunger is a hard sell for donors these days, according to IRIN. Not a sexy topic. People want 1 million shirts and celebrities and guys on boats made out of bottles. There has been no rainfall this year in some areas of Madagascar, the crisis has really screwed with already failing local economies, so severe malnutrition has become the norm. Meanwhile, in other, more verdant places in Madagascar, markets are bursting with food.

Market in Tamatave - Photo by Lindsay Redifer

The programs in place are obviously not going to cut it this time – the structural food issues should prompt a good hard look at organizational priorities (and a frank talk with donors who aren’t seeing the big picture). There has to be a way to prevent famine in a country that produces enough to feed its entire population.

I’m scheduled to go back to Madagascar at the end of June. Hopefully all the ruckus will quiet down by then.

This is an amazing local association – the first solar-powered radio station in a VERY isolated area, bringing educational programming, community development messages, music, and information from around the world to the rural commune of Antsaravibe!

Kudos to Christi Turner, former Peace Corps Volunteer, who helped establish this wonderful organization, and whose beautiful photos will also be featured in the full-color Madagascar Travel Companion, written by me and published by Other Places Publishing (coming this summer!).

After three days of chats, no deal (VOA News). They’ll get back together in 2 weeks to continue talking. If they failed to agree this time (and all the other times they’ve talked to each other, anywhere), is there any reason to believe that they’ll agree in 15 days? What will change between now and then?

AFP reports today on an explosion that happened outside the home of Madagascar’s justice minister late last night in Antananarivo. This is the third report of home-made bomb explosions in less than a week – no one has been injured.

The objective is to spread fear, but we mustn’t play their game and begin to panic. We are taking measures and are remaining calm,” said [Colonel Richard Ravalomanana].

In other news, Razia Said is pretty great. If you’re in NYC, go see this show tonight:

New Album ZEBU NATION Release Party
Celebrating Earth Day
Thu Apr 22 2010, 9:00 pm
S.O.B.’s
New York, NY

for more information:
www.sobs.com/node/112

Erik Patel, a friend of mine who works with the Silky Sifaka lemurs at Marojejy National Park in Madagascar, sent me these videos today. Illegal logging, its impacts within the protected area, great interviews with experts – take a gander.

Part 1:

Part 2:

This weekend, 19 people were arrested for allegedly planning to overthrow Rajoelina’s government (from Reuters Africa). Reports state that they were going to attack the prime minister’s house, armed to kill, with the ultimate goal of diving the military.Things are getting serious.

Today (from AFP),  Andry Rajoelina says he’s ready to implement a plan to disentangle Madagascar from its sticky web of conflict. In his own words:

“I received a road map drawn up by France, South Africa and the SADC (Southern African Development Community) and I am ready to implement it,” Rajoelina said in a televised interview.

Again with the map. But this is the first time he has agreed to work with Ravalomanana since the hubub began. It doesn’t make complete sense to me still, how it will be productive to set up a unity government that includes Rajoelina, Ravalomanana, Ratsiraka, and Zafy, four men with varying degrees of ill repute. Perhaps I will be pleasantly surprised. I hope so.

Second on the docket from Voice of America News – remember when the African Union placed sanctions on Madagascar’s leadership (Rajoelina and 108 government officials)? Well since they didn’t get any real backing from the UN Security Council, the sanctions aren’t having the desired effect, and this is causing African Union Commission Chief Jean Ping to be quite disappointed:

He said while African nations are mandated to enforce the sanctions, they would be more effective if endorsed by the five permanent members of the UN Security Council, which comprise an international contact group on Madagascar.  But he noted that African states had no means to force the big powers to act, except moral force. Other than that, he said, there’s nothing we can do about it.

Third but not least – this last one seems like a very big huge deal. According to reports from Afrol News today, GTT International (which includes members of the Malagasy Diaspora and victims of human rights abuses) had its lawyers file a complaint with the ICC (International Criminal Court) against the current leaders. Not to be taken lightly, the GTT’s complaint includes videos and testimonials from hundreds of people: victims, relatives of people that went missing or were killed over the past year, and even members of the current regime who were complicit in violations.

The evidence claims to document systematic cases of “killings, arbitrary imprisonment or other forms of deprivation of freedom, torture, rape and persecution against the civilian population.” This, according to GTT, summed up as “crimes against humanity committed by the military and civilian junta,” thus supporting its request for an investigation by the ICC.

This comes on the tail of Rajoelina’s pledge to follow his new map to a solution, but I suspect that this may cause a rather long pitstop.

A couple of days ago, AFP reported that dismissed army general Rakotonandrasana, while contemplating his unpopular idea of heading up a military administration, was ‘inspired by the coup in Niger and encouraged by foreign powers’. (Did he not remember that Madagascar JUST HAD A COUP last year?!) The foreign powers are not specified. Prime Minister Camille Vital, who replaced him as general, was opposed to the proposed junta. Other officers say that they do not want power over Madagascar, a big reason for that being that there’s no money left to run the country or pay anyone’s salaries.

“We’re going to draw up a roadmap with precise directives, sharing out the different positions and we will impose that on the politicians,” [an] officer said.

I wonder what will be on this new roadmap that everyone’s talking about. I’m by no means an expert on this, but I have a few ideas for stops along the way:

• Building and Improving Basic Infrastructure (Roads, Schools, Sanitation, Transportation, etc.)
• Public Services (Including, of course, Healthcare, Education, and Environment)
• Investment in Private Industry (Entrepreneurship, Tourism, Technology, Innovation)
• Job Creation
• Addressing Corruption and Kickbacks
• Accountability, Transparency and Good Governance
• Basic Human Rights

I’m not entirely sure how they can accomplish all of these things, especially without a little help at the beginning, which they can’t get without working on the last three items first.

This is a road in Madagascar.

I’ve been remiss in updating this site lately – finishing thesis, finishing travel guide, digging in the garden, figuring out how to cook quinoa – all very important things. However, since it looks like my book is going to be coming out this summer, I guess I better get back on the ball so the folks that buy it can check in and see what’s going on in Madagascar before they get on the plane. Here goes, I’ll start with the good news:

Rediscovered: a lemur that hasn’t been seen for 100 years! This cute little guy, the Sibree dwarf lemur, was thought to be extinct, and now he’s back.

From Scientific American

Photo: Sibree’s dwarf lemur, courtesy of McGill University (Article on Scientific American)

And in other, more disturbing news, Reuters reports on the Malagasy army’s new deadline for Andry Rajoelina. They want him to figure out a ‘roadmap’, a way out of the crisis, by the end of April – or else. This comes at an apt time, as the EU is again ‘mulling sanctions’, which would create further chaos in the island’s economy (how much more chaotic could it be?). Other questions that need to be answered deal with how Rajoelina plans to pay salaries for public servants and finance the federal elections. Valid queries. It’s not clear what the army plans to do if Rajoelina does not deliver, but I’m sure they won’t be sending him flowers.

(Very loose) translation: 'I don't give a crap about your big eyes watching me'