COMESA says military option for Madagascar possible
Written by VICTORIA FALLS, Zimbabwe (Reuters)
In a resolution at the end of a two-day summit of the Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa, the 19-member organisation condemned the military-backed opposition revolt which ousted Madagascar's President Marc Ravalomanana in March.
Ravalomanana, who is exiled in South Africa, was at the summit in Zimbabwe to drum up more support after winning the backing of the Southern African Development Community (SADC) and the African Union (AU).
"We welcome and agreed, as pronounced by the AU, to support SADC as they take a lead in efforts to restore constitutional order in Madagascar by examining all options, including the possibility of military intervention," COMESA said.
The SADC and the AU both suspended Madagascar after
president Andry Rajoelina took over from the elected leader with the help of renegade soldiers, and called the former disc jockey's seizure of power "a coup."
Several donors, including the International Monetary Fund (IMF), have suspended non-emergency assistance to Madagascar.
Labels: COMESA, MADAGASCAR
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COMMENT - A president comes to power in Madagascar through a military coup. Not a beep from Britain or the USA - I wonder why? What a lying hypocrites they were on Zimbabwe.
Southern African summit suspends Madagascar
Written by Reuters
Tuesday, March 31, 2009 4:39:23 PM
MBABANE, March 30 (Reuters) - Southern African leaders suspended Madagascar from the SADC regional grouping on Monday and called on its new army-backed president to step down.
The Southern African Development Community said in a communique after a summit in Swaziland that leaders of the group would not recognise Andry Rajoelina, who took power in a move that was condemned as a coup by the international community.
Former Madagascar President Marc Ravalomanana, who quit under pressure from the military, briefed SADC leaders on the political crisis in his country.
The SADC stance further isolated Rajoelina, a 34-year-old former disc jockey. The group did not call for elections. But SADC said it would give Rajoelina time to respond to its position and if he does not it will consider further action.
"The extraordinary summit suspended Madagascar from all community's institutions and organs until the return of the country to constitutional normalcy with immediate effect," said a communique.
SADC was quick to take a strong stand on Madagascar, unlike its approach to a political crisis that paralysed Zimbabwe before a power-sharing agreement reached in September.
"The extraordinary summit condemned in the strongest terms the unconstitutional actions that have led to the illegal ousting of the democratically elected government of Madagascar, and call for an immediate restoration of constitutional order in the country," the communique said.
The African Union suspended the Indian Ocean island on March 20 and told the new administration to hold an election within six months as provided for by the constitution.
Rajoelina, who has set a 24-month transition, remains defiant. Before the SADC statement was issued he said auditors hired by his government were reviewing all contracts with foreign investors because the country was receiving too little revenue. [nLU47467]
Some 34 people were injured on Saturday in demonstrations in Madagascar's capital, Antananarivo. It was the sixth day in a row that thousands of Ravalomanana supporters had protested.
SADC heads of state at the summit in Swaziland were also reviewing an economic recovery plan Zimbabwe presented, and agreed to push for an end to Western sanctions.
Zimbabwe's Industry and Trade Minister Welshman Ncube said his country told the summit it needed $8.5 billion over the next two to three years, including $1 billion for budget support and a $1 billion credit line.
"We don't expect that SADC will be able to do that, but that is what is required to resuscitate the economy," South African Deputy Finance Minister Nhlanhla Nene told Reuters.
Zimbabwe's new unity government between President Robert Mugabe and Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai needs Western donors, who say their money can only flow once a democratic government committed to economic reforms is in place.
Zimbabwean Finance Minister Tendai Biti told reporters at the summit he was confident that Western countries would help but it could be difficult to move quickly.
"This government is only five weeks old so you can't expect us to sprint like Usain Bolt when we are still in diapers and we are still learning to crawl," he said, referring to the Olympic champion who holds the world 100 metres world record.
"But crawl we will, stand we will, walk we will and sprint we will."
Labels: COUP, MADAGASCAR, SADC
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Nonde calls for change of attitude towards democracy
Written by Moses Kuwema
Sunday, March 22, 2009 6:36:45 PM
UNION Network International (UNI) vice-president Joyce Nonde has said the unconstitutional change of government in Madagascar shows a lack of understanding of democracy by African leaders. In an interview, Nonde observed that most African countries did not have systems that support democracy.
"If you look at our current situation here in Zambia, we still have a one party state in our Constitution, which is a sad development. We need to change our attitude towards democracy as Africans," she said.
Nonde said there were more power struggles as opposed to development in most African countries.
"People want to go to State House not for development but to fill their pockets. That is why you cannot tell whether there is democracy or not in most countries.
“Look at what happened in Kenya, Zimbabwe where there were disputes following the elections while [in] other countries, elections don't even take place," he said.
Nonde wondered what African leaders discuss at the African Union (AU) summits when the electoral systems in most counties were not perfect.
She said the AU should work towards helping to change the attitudes of African countries towards democracy.
"The AU should set standards for democracy because if we are not careful, what has happened in Madagascar will start happening in most African countries. So we should not just look at Madagascar but also look at our own countries. We need to have responsible opposition political parties and governments," she said.
Nonde said there was need to correct Zambia's electoral system before the 2011 elections. She said leaders should avoid being trivial and leave room for criticism.
"People need to allow criticism, but the problem with most African leaders is that they always want to be praised and they don't want to be criticized," Nonde said.
And Evangelical Fellowship of Zambia (EFZ) executive director Bishop Paul Mususu said the developments in Madagascar should be of great concern to everyone around the world.
Bishop Mususu said Madagascar was part of the Southern African Development Community (SADC) and the AU, hence the need for people to be concerned.
Bishop Mususu wondered whether what had happened in Madagascar was a creation of those in power or there was discomfort among people.
He called on other leaders on the continent to be careful as they govern because people power was supreme. He said leaders needed to be sensitive to the people they governed.
"People's voice cannot be quenched but unfortunately in Madagascar much as there was people power, the military was also involved and this should be a source of worry," he said.
Bishop Mususu observed that leaders needed to be humble because people's voices mattered.
"I can underscore the fact that the last two elections we have had the people that have been voted into power did not have a majority votes and one would expect to see some humility on their part, but this is not the case," he said.
Bishop Mususu said the good thing about the Madagascar situation was the fact that someone resigned and this would never happen in Zambia.
"There is a resignation which is not a case here even when people have been confronted with issues," said Bishop Mususu.
Labels: DEMOCRACY, GOVERNANCE, JOYCE NONDE, MADAGASCAR, SADC, UNION NETWORK INTERNATIONAL
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Sadc threatens new rulers of Madagascar
AllAfrica.com
Fri, 20 Mar 2009 04:32:00 +0000
THE Southern African Development Community (Sadc), which represents the governments of the region, has threatened the new rulers of Madagascar with sanctions unless they return the country to constitutional rule.
In a strongly-worded statement issued from Swaziland on Thursday, regional leaders refused to recognize the new Malagasy leader, Andry Rajoelina, as president.
“His appointment not only violates the constitution of Madagascar and democratic principles, but violates the core principles and treaty of Sadc, the African Union and the United Nations Charters,” the leaders said.
Their statement was issued after a meeting of the Sadc “Organ on Politics, Defence and Security Cooperation,” chaired by King Mswati III in Ezulwini, Swaziland. The meeting was also attended by President Armando Guebuza of Mozambique and South African defence minister Charles Nqakula.
The meeting said it condemned “in the strongest terms the unconstitutional actions that have led to the illegal ousting of the democratically-elected president of a Sadc member state.”
It called on the African Union and the wider international community not to recognize Rajoelina and to pressure his administration to return the country “to democratic and constitutional rule in the shortest time possible.”
It added that if Rajoelina did not comply, the group would recommend “appropriate sanctions and/or use all relevant resources available to restore order in Madagascar.”
It did not spell out action but asked its secretariat to report back on an action plan within a week.
-AllAfrica.com
Reprinted here with permission
Labels: MADAGASCAR, NEOCOLONIALISM, SADC
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Zambia, Madagascar agree to work together
From Christeter Macha Antananarivo, Thursday
ZAMBIA and Madagascar have agreed to work together and signed the
General Cooperation and the
Joint Permanent Commission-JPC agreements. The two agreements would enhance economic and technical cooperation between the two countries in areas such as agriculture, livestock, trade, transport, meteorology and education.
The agreements would further enhance economic and technical cooperation in scientific research, industry and handicrafts, fisheries, energy, health, information and finance among others.
Zambia’s Foreign Affairs Minister, Kabinga Pande signed on behalf of the Zambian Government while Madagascar Foreign Affairs Minister, Marcel Ranjeva signed on behalf of the host government.
A joint communique issued at the end of the state visit to Madagascar by President Mwanawasa who is also Southern African Development Community (SADC) Chairman, noted that the two countries while expressing satisfaction with the warm state of relations agreed with SADC executive secretary Tomaz Salomao that Madagascar needs help to develop customised infrastracture programmes for energy, maritime, air transport, communications and ICTs.
They also agreed to include these programmes in the SADC infrastracture master plan. This agreement followed Dr Salomao’s report on the SADC power sector review and consultative mission to Madagascar in November last year which showed that Madagascar was experiencing critical power supply shortages which lead to frequent power blackouts in the country.
Madagascar has a current power capacity of only 200 megawatts while the current demand is above 2,000 and 4,000 megawatts in the long-term.
The two Heads of States and the SADC executive secretary underscored the need for Madagascar to devise the short and long-term strategies to address the supply and demand disparities including the linking of the Madagascar Power utility company to the Southern African Power Pool in order to benefit from other SADC countries’ experiences and exchange programmes.
Dr Mwanawasa and President Ravalomanana urged SADC to devise short, medium and long-term measures that would mitigate power shortages faced by Madagascar and the SADC region.
The two Presidents re-affirmed that they would to continue to cooperate at regional, continent and international levels through SADC, Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa (COMESA), African Union (AU) and the UN.
At the end of the visit, President Mwanawasa expressed appreciation for the warm reception and hospitality accorded to him and his delegation during his stay in Madagascar and reiterated the need for continued interaction between the peoples of the two countries.
President Mwanawasa has since returned home aboard the Presidential challenger accompanied by his wife, Maureen and Foreign Affairs Minister, Kabinga Pande.
He was seen off at Ivato International Airport by Mr Ravalomanana, and his wife Lalao and other senior government officials from Madagascar.—ZANIS
Labels: MADAGASCAR
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