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?
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.
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'
The Turkish shipwreck is wreaking havoc on the whales – according to Earth Times, they’re washing up on the beaches, their blowholes clogged with diesel and oil. A number of veterinarians are trying to help them, and there are about 800 people cleaning up the beach, and the government says they’re angry. With what clout can they punish the ship’s owners?
photo from AFP
This is not the first time whales have had problems in Madagascar. In this photo, taken in June 2008, more than 100 whales are beached after getting caught in a bay near where Exxon Mobile was carrying out seismic surveys, but denies any fault for the whale disaster.
In other news, the Rajoelina camp is coming apart at the seams. Probably because he demanded to be both the president and prime minister of the transition government. I would laugh if it wasn’t so sad. He’s whistling a different tune now that he’s had the bright idea that Madagascar needs the aid that was cut off because of his stunt, an unconstitutional and somewhat piratical takeover (pirates are greedy too).
His comments mark a U-turn from his previously bullish rhetoric that Madagascar will turn its back on traditional donors including the European Union and the United States and look to new partners if aid remains frozen.
“We are dependent (on aid). Seventy percent of our finances come from budgetary aid. We won’t pull through without these contributions,” Rajoelina told a 2,000-strong crowd in the grounds of the city-centre palace.
from Reuters
News Africa Madagascar rivals strike deal
Rajoelina seized power after protests against the president left more than 100 people dead [AFP] Madagascar’s main political factions have signed a deal to set up a transitional government in an attempt to end months of instability following a coup on the Indian Ocean island.
Tiebile Drame, the UN mediator, said on Sunday that the two sides had “agreed that the transition will last no longer 15 months from the signature of the accord”.
During that period legislative and presidential elections will be held under international supervision “which will lead to the re-establishment of stable democratic institutions in Madagascar,” he said.
…
The composition of the transition government – which is set to include a president, vice-president, prime minister and three deputy prime minister – is still to be decided.
“They will reflect on it and make a decision later,” Joaquim Chissano, the former Mozambican leader who led the talks, said.
I’d love to be able to write all about the talks going on between Rajoelina, Ravalomanana, Ratsiraka, and Zafy right now, but I haven’t had any news about them yet. All I know is that R8 was quoted as being optimistic.
I have a question. I’ve been getting blips and blurps about aid workers being kidnapped in various countries lately – Sudan and Kenya, most notably for July. Why aren’t we hearing more about them? I talked to someone recently who hadn’t heard about the two reporters sentenced to years in a labor camp in North Korea for allegedly committing hostilities and crossing the border, and who were taken home by Bill Clinton yesterday. How do these things not make news and a man having sex with a horse (twice) in South Carolina does? We are captivated by this, and the world’s ugliest creatures:
Photo credit: National Geographic
I’m frustrated with news. It is nice to know that Bill has our back in a pinch, though, isn’t it?
Most popular stories on facebook, echoed by my google alerts:
Madagascar’s transitional leader, Andry Rajoelina, is seeking higher royalties from foreign companies.
Also, from Mongabay.com, Madagascar issues fines for timber stolen from national parks during political crisis…
From Reuters yesterday, reports of Ravalomanana’s impending return, and Rajoelina’s accusation that he’ll go to any length to get power back. Do counter-coups work? Also, again with the mercenaries? That line is so played out. I seriously doubt that Ravalomanana would do something that stupid. I also hope he wouldn’t, because I’m on the cusp of buying some very expensive plane tickets.
Side note, I heard rumors that Rajoelina was angry enough to carry out his coup plans because he was trying to date Ravalomanana’s daughter, and R8 wasn’t having it. At this point, I’d believe it.
Ravalomanana, who fled to southern Africa, insists he remains the legitimate leader of the
from World Culture Pictorial
Indian Ocean island and has rejected sharing power with Rajoelina.
“Today there are people who are thirsty for power,” Rajoelina told French RFI radio in an interview recorded on Friday. RFI released written excerpts of the interview, which is due to be broadcast Thursday.
“There are people who are even ready to come and retake power with mercenaries. Everyone is talking about it. And that is what Mr Ravalomanana is doing,” Rajoelina said.
A couple of months ago, I received an anonymous tip from a friend that France was behind Rajoelina’s rise to power. The source was unknown, so I filed it away in my mind tank for later. These days, rumors are still swirling, and a couple of days ago Ravalomanana formally accused France of the same thing – supporting the coup and even backing it financially. Now, I don’t really think it would be in anyone’s best interests for France to “re-colonize” Madagascar; that seems to be an inflammatory statement designed to get people’s goats. However, the economic interests that France might have in Madagascar were threatened by Ravalomanana’s preference to deal with China or the US. Here’s one explanation on Afrik.com:
Economic interests
An anonymous article published on the 27th of March 2009 in Top Mada, an online Malagasy newspaper, said to be pro-Ravalomanana, argued that economic relations between the former head of state and Paris could be behind Marc Ravolomanana’s fall. Some of these economic interests include the Bemolonga oil field, which is coveted by Total, the paper indicates. According the article, the former president was not a keen supporter of the French group, but instead China Petroleum Corporation, one of the largest oil companies in the world. A tactical error that, reportedly, cost him his title.
“After his rise to power,” writes Top Mada, “French companies that enjoyed monopoly, such as as Colas, found themselves competing with companies from the United States, Canada, South Africa and Asia. The share of French investment fell as a result”. Francis Soler’s analysis, however, begs to differ. He underlines the positive impact of Marc Ravalomanana’s policies on French investments. “He proposed a diversification of economic relations… Colas, a major French construction company, benefited from those policies” he says. “Although its market share has reduced, it has, nonetheless, increased its business activities. The construction market has grown (and) the French have benefited from it. The former president is not anti-French, he is only very nationalistic,” the journalist remarked. As the owner of “Tiko” and “Magro”, nationalism also served Marc Ravalomanana’s interests in the Madagascan food industry.
Ravalomanana is vowing that he will return home, to Madagascar. Maybe we’ll get there around the same time. What if we sit next to each other on the plane? That would make an interesting story. Here it is, from Al Jazeera English:
Madagascar leader ‘will go home’
In other news, Andry Rajoelina announced 2 days ago that he wouldn’t run in the coming elections, providing that the other former heads of state stood down as well. AFP reports,
“I am not thirsty for power, I do not want to cling to power. I just want to bring democracy to Madagascar,” Rajoelina said Wednesday.
