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OAU mediators leave Madagascar
04/05/2002 15:50 - (SA)
Antananarivo - An OAU-led team of African ministers left Madagascar
empty-handed Saturday after it failed to resolve the crisis that
has seen four of the island's six provinces secede to protest the
declaration of Marc Ravalomanana as president.
The three-day visit by eight African ministers and leading
Organisation of African Unity (OAU) officials was aimed at
facilitating the implementation of an OAU-brokered accord signed in
Dakar last month between Ravalomanana and his arch-foe, long-time
ruler Didier Ratsiraka.
"We leave today with the feeling that the task is not easy, but
we continue to think that it is possible to find an all-inclusive
solution to the crisis," said Senegal's Foreign Minister Cheikh
Tidiane Gadio, who acted as spokesperson for the mediators.
The Dakar accord aimed to reconcile the two rivals'
long-standing differences over a contentious presidential vote held
in December. The pact was based on a recount of that vote, which
Ravalomanana has repeatedly said was rigged to rob him of outright
victory.
A new vote tally made official by a constitutional court on
Monday gave Ravalomanana an absolute majority and, therefore, the
presidency.
But Ratsiraka has refused to accept the court's ruling, and four
provinces led by governors who back him have threatened to secede
since Ravalomananana's victory was announced.
- Sapa-AFP
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