Quiet! There is conspiracy

It is hard not to notice military personnel showing up on the double at the Department of Tourism, where they were « assigned » while the employees are placidly going about their daily business. This is much like a context where, right away, we catch ourselves and become fully aware of the need to mind our P?s and Q?s. In many other places, the situation is the same; the authorities are concerned with the need to beef up security. Case in point, the governor?s mansion in Fianarantsoa has been turned into a virtual fortress, under heavy security.

Here and there, you can feel the watchful eyes of the authorities, all around you. Nonetheless, you won?t hear a peep out of anyone. Behind the obviously mounting communication blackout, and tightening security measures, the specter of the Island?s former leadership looms threateningly as its members are busy pulling the strings of a destabilization attempt. We must not forget that former dictator Didier Ratsiraka, in at least one of his many farewell addresses, had said, « The fight goes on. » Today, many of his former sympathizers are still rotting in jail, while he lives the good life in Paris, without a care in the world.

Weapons of war have been discovered at Madagascar?s northwestern seaport of Mahajanga. They have been carefully smuggled inside used cars imported from France. Besides confirming the existence of a conspiracy, this major bust justifies the heightened and tighter security, at the highest level of government. These measures become more and more tangible as the threat becomes more real. A few weeks earlier, reliable sources indicated that a critical operation could take place on February 11, the 28th anniversary of the day when the then head of state, Colonel Ratsimandrava, was ambushed, and gunned down by a group of commandos along « Tsiombikibo » Drive, the same route followed everyday by the presidential motorcade. For a few years now, President Ravalomanana has taken up residence within some one hundred meters of the place where Colonel Ratsimandrava?s ambush had taken place. It would not surprising anyone if the same scenario were planned, for the same day. And, as if by coincidence, weapons reached the port city of Mahajanga, just a few days earlier. Many politicians find it hard to believe that this could be just a coincidence.

On the surface, at least, a poker-faced President Ravalomanana appears unfazed, and undaunted by the situation. Upon his return from a European trip, when a reporter asked him to comment on the rumor that mercenaries currently on Malagasy soil, he simply replied, « Only the cowards never leave home. »