NYTIMES: “Madagascar Political Feud Continues”

ANTANANARIVO, Madagascar — This nation’s government fired the mayor of this capital city on Tuesday, something of a reprisal after the mayor announced over the weekend that he was taking over the government.

This is power politics, Madagascar-style, a showdown between President Marc Ravalomanana and Mayor Andry Rajoelina, who in recent weeks has denounced the president as a dictator, a scoundrel and a thief. Political violence has left about 100 people dead. Buildings have been burned and gutted.

“For the past two months, the mayor has not spent much time fulfilling his real duties; he only went into the streets to excite the crowds and create trouble,” said Andry Ralijaona, an official within the presidency, explaining the decision to remove the mayor.

“The roads are not fixed; the rubbish is not cleared; and there are strange decisions, like the way he uses the symbols of his political party to decorate Antananarivo without consulting the people,” Mr. Ralijaona said. “He uses orange and blue, when the real colors of the city are yellow and a different shade of blue. We are not going to waste any more time trying to understand his psychology.”

To rid himself of the troublesome mayor, President Ravalomanana invoked a law that allows the dismissal of elected officials who fail to do their jobs. The action is legal, said constitutional experts here, but enforcing it may require the muscle of the national police.

“Tomorrow, the people who voted for Andry Rajoelina will gather before the city hall,” Mr. Rajoelina told reporters hours after his dismissal. “Antananarivo will not accept this decision. There is no valid reason to sack me. I don’t fear being arrested.”

Madagascar is the world’s fourth largest island, 1,000 miles head to toe in the Indian Ocean off the east coast of Africa, a biological wonderland of species found nowhere else, including hissing cockroaches and many species of lemurs and chameleons. Vanilla and other spices thrive in its moist heat.

Most people in the highlands are descended from Asia; those in the coastal areas are more African. But they are commonly poor, the majority surviving on less than $1 a day.

Among the few who are wealthy are President Ravalomanana, 59, a tycoon who controls one of the nation’s largest conglomerates, and Mr. Rajoelina, 34, a former disc jockey and entertainment impresario.

In December, the president ordered the closing of a television station owned by the mayor, who then began holding rallies to upbraid the government. Why was the president giving away public lands? he accused. Why did he buy an expensive jetliner? Why did he run the country like a fief?

On Jan. 26, one of those demonstrations led to mayhem as rioters destroyed stores, factories and a television station belonging to the president.

On Saturday, Mayor Rajoelina apparently felt he enjoyed enough support to declare that he was now ruling Madagascar. He told civil servants and schoolchildren to stay home on Monday in a show of solidarity.

But that request went largely unmet, indicating that the mayor may have overplayed his hand. Instead of immediately ascending to the presidency, Mr. Rajoelina announced that he would have Mr. Ravalomanana impeached.

On Tuesday, the mayor held his customary rally in the plaza of the capital’s main boulevard. This time, he gave the president an ultimatum: Quit by Saturday or he would begin naming the ministers to his new government.

It was a weak threat, and within hours, the office of the president announced that a former city official, Guy Rivo Randrianarisoa, would be handling the mayoral chores in the capital.


By BARRY BEARAK
Published: February 3, 2009