Madagascan crisis deepens

Times of India 27.04.2002

ANTANANARIVO: A deal to reconcile Madagascar's rival leaders teetered on collapse on Friday as one of the opposing camps rejected a recount of a hotly-disputed presidential election and threatened to set up an independent state.

Regional governors loyal to President Didier Ratsiraka said they would form an independent state if the High Constitutional Court (HCC) confirmed next week that Marc Ravalomanana, the popular mayor of the capital Antananarivo, had beaten Ratsiraka in the December election.

The HCC is re-examining the disputed results of the election, announced in January, which put Ravalomanana ahead of Ratsiraka but did not award him outright victory, making a second-round run-off necessary.

The HCC is due to announce the results of its re-examination on Monday. On Friday parliamentarians, senators, provincial councillors and mayors in the southwestern province of Toliara issued a statement threatening to "set up a lawful constituent assembly to establish the independent state of Toliara" if the HCC ruled Ravalomanana had won the vote.

Their declaration was backed by all the governors of all the other regions of the Indian Ocean island, except the governor of the capital, Antananarivo, who has sided with Ravalomanana.

"As a magistrate, I cannot back secessionist moves but if Ravalomanana's camp continues to behave illegally, the independence of the provinces is a risk," Toliara Governor Jean de Dieu Maharante said.

"We the governors of the five autonomous province share the analysis of the Toliara elected officials on this point," Antsiranana Governor Jean-Robert Gara said. "If Ravalomanana is declared (president) we will reject this foregone conclusion and will be obliged to head towards independence," he said.

Ratsiraka's camp said on Friday the HCC was illegal in its current composition. Ratsiraka stuffed the HCC with his supporters just before the December election. But the country's Supreme Court annulled these appointments earlier this week and reinstated the HCC's original members, much to the ire of Ratsiraka's followers.

In their statement, the Toliara politicians also demanded that Ravalomanana dismantle the parallel "government" he has set up in the capital.

Ravalomanana currently controls Madagascar's two most populous provinces, Antananarivo and Fianarantsoa. The latter was taken after several days of fighting against armed supporters of the provincial governor, a Ratsiraka loyalist.

According to several sources, officials in Gara's province of Antsiranana are already heading for secession, calling themselves "ministers" in a provincial government.

While denying these reports, Gara conceded: "Some provincial commissioners might consider themselves, in their discussions, as de facto provincial ministers and the governor is playing the de facto role of president in his province."
Ratsiraka's followers have also warned they will step up a blockade of Antananarivo, which has for several months starved the capital of fuel and other vital supplies from the main port of Toamisina. The port is being used as a temporary capital by Ratisaka's ministers and governors.

Thus two cornerstones of a deal struck by Ravalomanana and Ratsiraka in Senegal earlier this month are coming unstuck. Under that agreement, the bitter foes agreed to let the HCC review the election result, share power in a transitional government if no absolute winner emerged and organise a referendum so the Madagascan people could choose between the two.

The deal also stipulated that roadblocks set up by both camps should be dismantled. But the pact appeared on Friday to be swiftly unravelling. "If Marc Ravalomanana is declared president on Monday, we will go back to a situation of conflict," one of Ratsiraka's close associates said.

"We will not lift the roadblocks, even after these results, as long as there is no return to legality, notably as long as Ravalomanana's insurrectional government remains in place," explained senator Annick Dahy, speaking on behalf of the five governors loyal to Ratsiraka.

These latest developments will come as a blow to the Organisation of African Unity (OAU), which brokered the deal in Dakar, Senegal, and which regards secession as anathema to its basic principles.

On Friday, OAU chief Amara Essy appealed to Ratsiraka and Ravalomanana to implement the Dakar deal as a matter of urgency. At least 30 people have died in political violence in Madagascar since the December election.