Madagascar: Guebuza Grants Audience to Rajoelina

Maputo — Mozambican President Armando Guebuza on Tuesday received the self-styled President of the High Transitional Authority of Madagascar, Andry Rajoelina.

Rajoelina seized power in March 2009, overthrowing the democratically elected president, Marc Ravalomanana. Subsequent attempts by a team headed by former Mozambican President Joaquim Chissano to mediate a return of Madagascar to constitutional rule have so far come to nothing, thanks to Rajoelina's intransigence.

Rajoelina has refused to implement agreements he signed up to at meetings held in Maputo and Addis Ababa with Ravalomanana and two other former presidents, Didier Ratsiraka and Albert Zafy. As a result Madagascar remains suspended from both the African Union and the Southern African Development Community.

Speaking to reporters after his hour long meeting with Guebuza, Rajoelina said he thanked the President and the Mozambican people "for the support they are providing so that the people of Madagascar may emerge from the political crisis and enter the route of economic development".

He claimed that Madagascans had voted en masse in favour of a new constitution in November. This referendum, recognised by nobody except the "High Transitional Authority", saw 73 per cent of those who voted approving the new constitution. But there was a low turn-out, of only 52.6 per cent. Independent observers said the referendum was riddled with irregularities.

The new constitution contains booby traps against Rajoelina's opponents. It contains a clause obliging would-be presidential candidates to have lived in Madagascar for at least six months before the presidential election (scheduled for May, but likely to be postponed). This is clearly designed to exclude Ravalomanana, who was pushed into exile by the 2009 coup.

The minimum age for presidential candidates has been dropped from 40 to 35 - which would allow the 36 year old Rajoelina to stand.

Rajoelina claimed he had received the go-ahead from Guebuza to continue heading the transitional government prior to the next elections. He said he shared the concern of the international community that the elections should be free and fair.

Rajoelina's idea of a fair election, however, is one where the main opposition is outlawed. Asked whether Ravalomanana would be able to stand, Rajoelina categorically denied any such possibility on the grounds that Ravalomanana had been tried and sentenced by a Madagascan court.

In august 2010, a kangaroo court sentenced Ravalomanana in absentia to hard labour for life because of his alleged role in the 2009 upheavals.

Rajoelina compared Ravalomanana to the deposed presidents of Egypt and Tunisia, Hosni Mubarak and Zine el Abidine Ben Ali. They had both lost their right to sand in elections, and so had Ravalomanana, he argued.

Guebuza made no public comment on his discussions with Rajoelina.


allAfrica.com: Madagascar: Guebuza Grants Audience to Rajoelina: "Guebuza Grants Audience to Rajoelina"