Madagascar talks tackle elections, amnesty in coup crisis

PRETORIA, April 30, 2010 AFP - Madagascar’s rival leaders Friday haggled over election dates and a proposed amnesty for ousted president Marc Ravalomanana, in talks on the crisis sparked by last year’s coup.

Ravalomanana was toppled in March 2009 after weeks of street protests led by Andry Rajoelina, a former disc jockey and mayor of the capital who took power with the military’s blessing.

Repeated negotiations have stumbled on forming a unity government that would pave the way toward elections in the Indian Ocean island nation.

Talks held in Pretoria since Wednesday have turned on a roadmap backed by former colonial master France and regional powerhouse South Africa, which are pushing for quick elections.

Former Mozambican president Joaquim Chissano is mediating the talks, which were described as “tense”, according to a source within Rajoelina’s movement.

The two rivals met together for the first time late Thursday, but the negotiations in the South African capital have deadlocked on Ravalomanana’s demand for amnesty.

Rajoelina believes that an amnesty should be approved by parliament.

A draft agreement seen by AFP calls for a United Nations enquiry into a February 7, 2009, protest where Ravalomanana’s guards opened fire on Rajoelina’s backers, killing at least 28 people.

That incident helped push Rajoelina into power, although his government has not been recognised by international organisations.

“I don’t think that Mr Ravalomanana alone can be implicated in the events of February 7,” said a spokesman for his movement, Guy Randrianarisoa. “We have always called for an international enquiry.”

He said the amnesty was meant to shield the Ravalomanana from convictions made since his exile in South Africa, so that the fallen leader can “return to Madagascar to contest the presidential election.”

The former presdient was sentenced in June 2009 to four years in prison for conflicts of interests in the 2008 purchase of a presidential jet from the Disney group, which crystallised opposition to his government.

The two camps also remain divided on the timeline for new elections.

The draft deal calls for legislative polls between July and September, followed by a presidential election. Ravalomanana wants the sequence reversed, arguing presidential leadership is the heart of the crisis.

Talks between the two rivals were held only late Thursday after some coaxing from Chissano, officials said.

Although a power-sharing accord was signed in November, current leader Rajoelina subsequently rejected it, prompting the African Union to impose travel and economic bans on him and scores of his backers last month.

Madagascar’s economy has collapsed since the international community cut off aid and the African Union applied sanctions, while the military has grown restless over the protracted political haggling.

Rajoelina plans to meet military chiefs Monday in Madagascar, his spokesman Annick Rajaona said.