Afrique en ligne: “Madagascar PM says calm has been restored in his country”

Madagascar Prime Minister Charles Rabemananjara said here Friday that calm had been restored in his country after nearly a week of political turmoil that saw the mayor of Antananarivo, Mr. Andry Rajoelina, announce the overthrow of President Marc Ravalomanana.

Rabemananjara said the demonstration that began last week had been quelled after security forces arrested the leaders of the rebellion that precipitated closure of schools, banks and other essential services in the Indian Ocean island nation.

"Initially, the police reacted with restrain because they did not want the situation to descend into further chaos. In addition, they were not well-equipped to deal with demonstrators who numbered more than 100,000," the Prime Minister who is representing his government at the 12th summit of the African Union in the Ethiopian capital, said.

He said President Ravalomanana was eager to hold dialogue with mayor Rajoelina, who last Monday announced the overthrow of the president.

He, however, ruled out any pre-conditions, which he said had caused a reconciliation meeting with the mayor to abort.

He said if the dialogue failed to work, the government would have to invoke the law, although he declined to say categorically if the mayor would be charged for treason.

"The president is open to dialogue. We would like to exhaust all possible channels of reconciliation before thinking of alternatives," he said, but ruled out a snap election.

He said it was too early to think of international mediators as the president was still waiting for the mayor to respond to his invitation to dialogue.

"We believe the situation has retuned to normal. We appeal to the people of Madagascar to uphold the essential values of the nation," he said.

Reacting to fears that Madagascar would not be able to hold next July AU heads of state summit, the prime minister said the infrastructure where the meeting was scheduled to take place was not affected by the riots and looting that engulfed the former French colony for nearly a week.

Addis Ababa - 03/02/2009
By JUMA KWAYERA PANA Correspondent