Dahalo threat: the army and the ruling power feel destabilized

Letting blades swing around and removing someone’s arm or head have become a trivial move in the southern part of Madagascar. Village militiamen took away 8 arms previously belonging to 8 Dahalo thieves, as spoils of war. Such cruelty has not been haunting Madagascar for an age. If only the army’s top command could inspire from it and reconnect to its men let down on their own in a genuine war zone ruled by violence.

“It is no longer mere Dahalo militia issue. The whole of the society has grown brats” said the Defence Minister. General Rakotoharimasy highlighted the large number of thieves ganging up on their victims to capture cattle. “It is no longer a sport as was the case in ancient traditions,” he said, while recalling that the current Dahalo militia kills for real.

The Transitional Minister produced three assumptions concerning the phenomenon’s origin. “These raids are either feeding a money laundering network with cattle as basic commodity, or serving political ends,” he said.

General Randrianazary, the State police’s spokesman immediately replied: “arguing that someone would have hatched this situation as a plot, is quite easy, but extremely hard to prove. Nobody can be arrested on the basis of mere assumptions. “

The defense minister stressed the point that the fight against the dahalo was no more a matter of talks, although talks and nothing else have so far proved to be the army’s single but greatest success. All of the public security departments were ordered to put an end to this critical situation. So, back to the front lines!

And what could four state policemen ever achieve against 200 brewed up outlaws armed with a wide array of weapons, namely AK-47 rifles, shotguns, spears, axes and so on? The army’s involved contingent simply can’t match the opposition. Are the scales in Betroka expected to be tipped by mere some additional fifty men?

The thirty other ones sent to Taolagnaro and Ranomafana will at least be supporting the villagers who boldly resisted dahalo raids and caused one hundred casualties to the enemy. The Defense Minister will no longer judicially have to address the issue of a whole village’s right to self-defense in case of a pending outlaw raid.

Jean de Dieu Maharante, CST member and advisor of the transitional leader, holds this Dahalo uprising without surprise as a “destabilization maneuver deemed to drive the State away from certain areas”, according to his say.

The current transition’s breeding department’s former minister suggested therefore the erection of a military outpost on the main track usually followed by stolen cattle. This is of course an absolute heap of nonsense, for it would eventually come up to vow a handful of servicemen to a certain and cruel death against legions of Dahalo.

The army’s top command, supportive of the HAT, used to be far more brave and efficient into cracking down on opposition demonstrations inside the capital city. The politically motivated repression’s master and commander, General Richard Ravalomanana, even boasted his alleged capacity to put an end to the Dahalo uprising which has been developing during the latest six months. Until now, the General Manakay, the ruling power’s best expert in such a field remarkably proved to be out of order.

The transitional government got a move on anyway and injected money into the struggle against the Dahalo scourge. As for the HAT leader and self proclaimed leader in chief of the armed forces, he either does not feel concerned enough yet, or he does not know at all, which step can possibly be taken.