1. Posted on Friday 15 January 2010 - 12:27

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   Sanday

   

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   Sanday Chongo Kabange, AfricaNews reporter in Lusaka, Zambia

   Leaders from the southern African region have urged the international community to reject plans by Madagascar's military-backed Andry Rajoelina to ignore power-sharing talks and hold an election.

   

   The leaders said after a special meeting on Madagascar and Zimbabwe organized by the security organ of the Southern African Development Community (SADC) that they were deeply concerned about the Indian Ocean Island’s political crisis.
   
   Rajoelina, who toppled former President Marc Ravalomanana in a military-backed coup last March, is forging ahead with unilateral plans for parliamentary polls, weeks after a power-sharing government appeared within grasp.
   
   "The summit rejects any attempt to use democratic means, institutions and processes to legitimize governments that came to power through unconstitutional means," said a SADC statement after the meeting in the Mozambican capital Maputo.
   
   "The summit also rejects the unilateral plan of the 'de facto' government of Madagascar to 'reorganize' the transition and hold legislative elections in March 2010," it said.
   
   Power-sharing
   
   SADC, which has suspended Madagascar from membership of the bloc, called for the resumption of power-sharing talks.
   
   Rajoelina, 35, tore up a series of internationally-brokered agreements shortly before Christmas and appointed a senior military officer as prime minister to govern the country, which is increasingly eyed by outsiders for its oil and minerals.
   
   The SADC said little on Zimbabwe, apart from urging all parties to "implement decisions made".
   
   President Robert Mugabe and long-time rival Morgan Tsvangirai, now prime minister, formed a unity government last February after disputed elections, but the coalition has been hobbled by feuds over power-sharing.
   
   Mugabe and Tsvangirai are haggling over the appointment of provincial governors and the 85-year-old president's refusal to swear in Tsvangirai ally Roy Bennett as deputy agriculture minister.
   
   He has also refused to sack allies he appointed as central bank governor and attorney general.
   
   Mugabe says the MDC should call off Western sanctions against his ZANU-PF party and ask its backers in the West to shut down what he calls pirate radio stations broadcasting into Zimbabwe from the United States and Britain.
   
   The unity government is struggling to reverse a decade of economic collapse in Zimbabwe.

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Reactions

1. Posted on Tuesday 09 February 2010 07:20

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   John B

   

   
   1 berichten
   Lid sinds February 2010

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   SACD is right!
   
   In one year we have lost so much! Over 1 Billion Euros in direct aid; the AU conference; hundreds of millions of Euros from tourism; untold new investment; the list goes on and on…
   
   The situation was improving under the democratically elected government and now it is has been taken away from us.
   
   Because TGV is broke Rajoelina has now said it is ‘legal’ to sell the rosewood from our forests to the Chinese and the French. TGV not only has no money they and the ones that support them have no morals.
   
   LNIK: http://news.mongabay.com/2010/0128-madagascar.html
   
   People are hungry; there are no jobs ~ the desperation grows each day. Law and order are breaking down. There is no freedom of the press whatsoever. People are being arrested and detained for no reason. All we have on the television is propaganda from the young man who would be King!
   
   We are certainly only a small blip on the world's radar but we are glad to see your articles. Madagascar, at the same time, is one of the poorest countries on the planet and a vastly important and unique island,
   
   We need elections as soon as possible but they must be free and fair with international observers and not a farce orchestrated by the dictator and his supporters from outside the country.
   
   Regards, John B

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