Long way to get out of political crisis in Madagascar

by Zhou Yu, Bai Jingshan

ANTANANARIVO, Feb. 24 (Chinese media) 每 Madagascan political

rivals, President Marc Ravalomanana and opposition leader Andry Rajoelina, have

not yet reached any agreement in their negotiations on how to end the political

crisis facing the country.

The negotiations between the rival parties began on

Saturday. Unlike their first meeting since the start of the current political

crisis in December, no official statement was issued on Monday and Tuesday from

both sides after their talks.

The negotiations were sponsored and organized by the

influential Christian Council of Churches in Madagascar. Declining to give

details about their meetings, Council President Odon Razanakolona told the media

on Monday that "a big step" was pushed forward at the second round of the

meeting between the major politicians of the Indian Ocean island country.

In a sharp contrast with their first meeting on

Saturday, the second and third meetings have just shown difficulties in reach

any agreement on their dispute.

Rajoelina, a former mayor of the capital city, has

insisted on the resignation of President Ravalomanana and his government while

Ravalomanana, keeping in mind of the scheduled African Union Summit in the

coming July, is eager to solve the domestic conflicts as early as possible.

President Ravalomanana reminded the opposition of the

respect of the constitution as well as the legality of his presidency and

government which came to power in 2002 after a national election at the end of

2001.

The opposition claimed that president Ravalomanana,

described as a dictator by Rajoelina, should resign due to his violation of the

constitution.

At a mass gathering held here early this month,

Rajoelina, 34, proclaimed himself president of the country, announced the

establishment of a transitional government and appointed ministers.

As the stalemate continued, a bloody conflict took

place shortly then when Rajoelina and his supporters marched to the presidential

palace to take over the presidential power on Feb. 7.

The troops guarding the palace were ordered to open

fire at the anti-government demonstrators when they tried to force into the

palace, killing dozens of Rajoelina's supporters and injuring many others.

The opposition also accused the president of

controlling the national crucial economy by his private business under Tiko, a

cooperation run by Ravalomanana even before he came to power in 2002.

Under the constitution, which stipulates that all

candidates for the office of president must be at least 40 year old, Rajoelina

is not qualified to be a candidate for any presidential election due to the

limitation of age.

However, it is impossible for Rajoelina and his

opposition camp to compromise, at least now, on the transitional government.

Odon Razanakolona said on Monday that the talk might

last a long process before realizing a peaceful solution to get out of the

current political crisis.

What is worrying is that the opposition may return to

street anti-government demonstrations at any time if the talk are broken down or

suspended.

Experiences in other African countries indicate that

negotiations as such might sustain for weeks, even months, before a final

solution is found.

For the outside world and even for the politicians

here, it is a big question mark whether the scheduled African Union Summit could

be held on time although Madagascar has promised to make efforts to hold the

summit as planned.

Taking the summit meeting as a national pride,

Ravalomanana, on several occasions, urged the opposition to concentrate on the

African summit rather than continuing street anti-government demonstrations.

Anyhow, the start of talks between President

Ravalomanana and opposition leader Rajoelina has brought a slight hope of a

peaceful solution to the political crisis on the world's fourth largest island.