Madagascar clashes kill 1
2010-05-21 09:08
Antananarivo – At least one person was killed and five others wounded, including civilians, in a gun battle that broke in central Antananarivo on Thursday between rival Malagasy security forces.
By early evening, army and gendarmerie forces had reclaimed control of the base that had been held by 30-odd mutineers from the gendarmerie's elite intervention unit (FIGN).
The clash erupted as political players on the Indian Ocean island nation struggled to find a way out of a crisis sparked by a March 2009 coup.
The vast island state has been unstable since a March 2009 coup led by Andry Rajoelina, a 35-year-old former disc jockey who ousted president Marc Ravalomanana with the army's support.
According to security sources, the main grievance of the mutineers is related to money paid to their former boss by the ousted Ravalomanana early last year, when Rajoelina was leading street protests against his regime.
"One person was killed and five wounded. All of them by bullets," said Colonel Richard Ravalomanana, who led the military operation against the protesting officers.
The dead man was a soldier who was part of a security forces team that was dispatched to remove road barricades erected by the elite forces, while three civilians were among the wounded, Colonel Ravalomanana said.
Hospital sources earlier said six people sustained gunshot wounds.
An AFP reporter near the scene of the shooting earlier saw one civilian with a bullet wound to the leg being evacuated by the Red Cross.
Mediation efforts
"We have finished the assault," said Ravalomanana, who is not related to the ousted president. "There are no prisoners. The other (mutineers) fled and the regular forces now occupy the FIGN," he said without elaborating.
"We never meant to attack but they started opening fire on us. We only retaliated for half an hour when we decided to move towards their base," he said earlier.
The army commander said he estimated the total number of rebel FIGN members was no more than 30.
The rebel security forces set up mobile checkpoints around their base at Fort Duchesne on Wednesday.
The mutineers accuse their former boss General Bruno Razafindrakoto of keeping for himself 500 000 ariary (around $236 000) paid to him by former president Ravalomanana.
Another political ingredient in Thursday's skirmish was that the rebel FIGN apparently intended to protect a planned demonstration by a pro-Ravalomanana movement.
Since taking power, Rajoelina has failed to secure international backing and left the country in a state of institutional limbo.
International mediation efforts involving Ravalomanana and two other former presidents have so far failed.
The crisis has left Rajoelina increasingly isolated both internationally and at home, with the army increasingly reluctant to back him.
- SAPA