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Island crisis nears end
17/06/2002 00:05 - (SA)
Antananarivo - President Marc Ravalomanana of Madagascar, riding high on recent territorial gains and the absence of his arch rival, on Sunday dissolved his government, paving the way for an end to the worst crisis in the Indian Ocean island's history.
The move, announced on national radio, is likely to lead to the formation of a transitional broad-based administration including supporters of former president Didier Ratsiraka, with whom Ravalomanana has been locked in a fierce power struggle since a contentious December election.
The battle has brought the country, already among the world's
poorest, to its knees, ravaging the economy and threatening to
bring about a major humanitarian disaster.
Ravalomanana said on Sunday that he accepted most of the
main points to end the crisis drawn up earlier this month by
presidents Abdoulaye Wade of Senegal and Omar Bongo of Gabon.
A cornerstone of this plan, which was left unsigned when
Ravalomanana and Ratsiraka met in Dakar on June 9, was the
formation of a reconciliation government.
Ratsiraka, who has refused to accept Ravalomanana's officially
declared victory and has set up a parallel government in the
eastern port city of Toamasina, left Madagascar for France on
Thursday.
The next day Ravalomanana's military forces made easy work of
taking key ports and areas previously in the hands of the former
president.
Ravalomanana's offensive, launched late last month, seems also
to have succeeded in its aim of breaking a crippling economic
blockade imposed by Ratsiraka on the capital, Antananarivo.
Sunday's brief radio and television announcement also said that Prime Minister Jacques Sylla had been re-appointed and charged with forming a new government.
"We must work towards national reconciliation. Everyone should
get involved," Ravalomanana said earlier in the day.
When he formed his government in May, Ravalomanana ignored
international pressure for an inclusive team, appointing just one
person close to Ratsiraka, and even he had already resigned as
defence minister.
Late Saturday, sources close to Wade in Dakar said Ravalomanana had written to Wade agreeing to the principle of an inclusive administration.
To this effect, the sources said, Ravalomanana planned to name a prime minister, possibly the incumbent, and a cabinet, that would "appeal to all stakeholders, including supporters of the former president".
In his letter, according to the Senegalese sources, Ravalomanana also unequivocally agreed to hold early legislative elections.
He further agreed to look into the idea of granting "amnesty" to Ratsiraka and his family. The former leader has stressed he had not fled Madagascar and intended to return.
Under the latest Dakar plan, three of five most important
cabinet posts would be chosen by Ratsiraka, with Ravalomanana
appointing the interior and finance ministers.
Other ministries would be agreed by consensus, with the two
leaders each allocating half the portfolios.
The plan also calls for a body, chaired by Ravalomana, to be set up to steer the country through a transition phase.
The Organisation of African Unity's central organ, akin to the
UN's Security Council, is due to discuss the plan a summit in Addis Ababa on June 21.
Ravalomanana first appointed Sylla, a lawyer, as his prime
minister in February, after unilaterally declaring himself
president on the basis of the December poll and in defiance of an
initial ruling that called for a second round run-off.
After that ruling was reversed when the results were re-examined in May, Ravalomanana re-appointed Sylla as his prime minister after being officially sworn in as president.
- Sapa-AFP
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