Madagascar: OAU takes no sides
2002-06-22 08:40
Addis Ababa - Organisation of African Unity (OAU) leaders meeting here, early
on Saturday refused to take sides in Madagascar's conflict between
President Marc Ravalomanana and his rival and predecessor Didier
Ratsiraka, a decision welcomed by Ratsiraka but rejected by
Ravalomanana's delegation.
The pan African body's 17-state central organ - akin to the UN
Security Council - recommended that Madagascar's seat remain
vacant at next month's OAU summit in Durban, South Africa, at which
an African Union will be launched.
"The central organ considered that the elections held in
Madagascar on 16 December 2001 did not result in a constitutional
and legally constituted government," a statement said after a
seven-hour marathon meeting in the Ethiopian capital.
"It, therefore, recommended to the assembly of heads of state
and government that in the meantime neither Mr Ratsiraka nor Mr
Ravalomanana's governments should be allowed to represent the
republic of Madagascar at the OAU.
"Consequently, the seat of the republic of Madagascar would
remain vacant such a time that a government was established
according to the provisions of this communique."
Ratsiraka told journalists following the statement by the
African leaders: "I accept their decision." He added: "There is an
equilibrium between Marc Ravalomanana and me."
But Ravalomanana's delegation leader Narisoa Rajaonarivony
protested: "I just think it's unfair. They didn't take into
consideration the situation in Madagascar, what is happening."
He told journalists: "How can we be in favour of (new) elections
or referendum, it's something unacceptable for us."
Mozambique's President Joaquim Chissano said after the meeting:
"In short, what I can tell you is that the seat of Madagascar at
the OAU will remain vacant until a solution is found." He insisted,
however: "Madagascar is not kicked out from the OAU."
Zambia's head of state and OAU chairman Levy Mwanawasa declared:
"There is no government in Madagascar which is constitutionally
elected, the seat is going to remain vacant."
"Our decision is based on constitutionalism", and "we are siding
with the law", he added.
Free and fair elections
Among others attending the meeting were the presidents of
Senegal and Tanzania, Abdoulaye Wade and Benjamin Mkapa, along with
South African Vice President Jacob Zuma, Ethiopian Prime Minister
Meles Zenawi, OAU Secretary General Amara Essy, and several foreign
ministers, notably from Gabon, Togo, Namibia and Mali.
The statement said the leaders stressed the need for a
political and negotiated solution to the crisis through the
holding with the assistance of the UN, the OAU, the EU and the
international community at large, of free and fair elections to
enable the people of Madagascar to choose their leader and the
setting up of transitional arrangements, the modalities of which
should be agreed upon by both parties.
Repeating its support for the April 18 Dakar accord, the OAU
central organ "urged both parties to work out the specific
modalities for the transitional arrangements based on the spirit of
the Dakar Agreement and subsequent consultations".
Finally, it called on the two protagonists "to exercise maximum
restraint and promote a spirit of dialogue in the country".
A reconciliation deal reached in Dakar called notably for a
power-sharing government to steer Madagascar to legislative polls.
When Ravalomanana named a new government earlier this week in
Antananarivo, he blatantly excluded any key figures from
Ratsiraka's camp from the new team.
As the talks began, a spokesman for Ravalomanana said in
Antananarivo that 36 mercenaries were on their way to the island
from South Africa on a mission to kill the head of state.
Officials in South Africa denied the claim, saying no unusual
air traffic movements had been reported on Friday.
However three Ukranians were forbidden to board a
Johannesburg-Antananarivo flight on Friday after a search found
army-style combat uniforms and a small electricity generator in
their baggage, Madagascar's consul general in Johannesburg told
AFP.
The consul general, Bruno Ranarivelo, said the three men, who
were around 40 and who had travelled from Kiev via Amsterdam on
tourist visas, "were unable to say where they were going in
Madagascar or where they would be staying, just that they would be
met at the airport". - Sapa-AFP
- SAPA