International contact group: “we lost our time”

It is a failure, worse, a recession. The efforts of the international Contact Group (ICG)have finally proved vain. Ablassé Ouedraogo from the African Union, Tiebilé Dramé, special representative of the UN General Secretary and Edem Kodjo from the international organization of French speaking countries finally left the negotiation table as well. The report is bitter: “we came up against all sorts of cornerstones “.  

The ICG doesn’t want to give false hopes to the Malagasy population as for the research of a political and pacific solution to the crisis. “We, negotiators and facilitators, were conscious that we were loosing our time “, confessed Edem Kodjo. He regrets that lines have become hard up to questioning the reached agreements. It is a recession whose true reasons remain a mystery for the ICG “.  

The international mediation led by the union African is therefore stopped due to a lack of genuine political will from the concerned parts. This withdrawal is no final disengagement. “We don’t pull out for good, Madagascar is a founding member of the African Union, we cannot abandon it “, added Ablassé Ouedraogo. According to the ICG, its” duty is to suspend negotiations where they are and to make so that the Madagascans take their own responsibilities “. 

Being the voice of the international community, the ICG reiterated its warning: no side can only act alone either in the management of the transition or in the organization of next elections. An one-sided transition won’t be recognized, not mentioning the eventual consequences. Tiebilé Dramé invites the Madagascan political actors to think over the risks incured by the country.  

The international mediation therefore pause «until further notice “, until political will appears again into Ravalomanana’s, Rajoelina’s, Ratsiraka’s and Zafy’s parties. The ICG will resume its mission within a period prescribed by new bases “. For Ablassé Ouedraogo, it is not a “resignation” at all. The consideration of the ICG as a” referee” didn’t ease matters, everyone requires preliminaries. This temporary withdrawal could be beneficial.