President Andry Rajoelina has illegitimately been in power since March 2009 after ousting incumbent Marc Ravalomanana with the help of dissident soldiers.

Rajoelina, Ravalomanana and former political leaders Albert Zafy and Didier Ratsiraka attended three days of talks in Pretoria organised by mediators from France, South Africa and the Southern African Development Community (SADC).

"The consultations were productive and a number of good and useful proposals were put forward," SADC mediator and former Mozambican President Joaquim Chissano told reporters in a Reuters report.

"At the conclusion of the consultations, the leaders of the four movements committed themselves to reconvene in approximately 15 days in South Africa to resolve outstanding matters," said Chissano.

The army had said Rajoelina had until the end of April to come up with an acceptable way out of the political impasse on the world's fourth largest island.

The crisis has hit foreign investment and battered the tourism industry in Madagascar, the world's biggest producer of vanilla and a country with potentially substantial oil and mineral reserves.

Since the crisis erupted, there has been a diplomatic divide among African nations with Anglophones largely seen favouring Ravalomanana and Francophones tending to side with Rajoelina, according to African Union sources and analysts.