Ravalomanana will no longer negotiate!

It is official now. President Ravalomanana will not attend the Addis Ababa summit scheduled for June 21, 2002. The new administration has declared that it is no longer willing to negotiate with a terrorist president. The incident involving a French Falcon 900 jet with 12 mercenaries aboard has completely capsized OAU’s latest mediation attempt. Long before the Malagasy President’s refusal to attend the summit, Secretary General Amara Essy has proposed a postponement, for reasons yet unknown.

As a supporter, from Ravalomanana’s inner circles, shouted out: “Negotiation is no longer possible. The former president has proven, once and for all, that he is a hard-core terrorist, through and through. The international community, especially France, must no longer pressure President-elect Ravalomanana to take part in the Addis Ababa negotiations”. On the other hand, according to sources within Quai d’Orsay, France encourages the two rivals to continue the round table talks at Addis Ababa, in hopes that “OAU’s Central Committee meeting will lead to an agreement. The Malagasy television and radio networks highly criticize this French stand. As a private radio listener pointed out, “Didier Ratsiraka is a terrorist, just like Bin Laden. No country, including France, has ever encouraged the international community to negotiate with the latter, in view of all the terrorist acts he perpetrates everywhere. The solution does not necessarily lie within negotiations.”

France: under suspicion

France has currently found herself in a rather awkward position with regards to this bungled coup attempt. Her defense is not altogether clear, when she does come up with one, now and then. “What individual or what country is hiding behind Admiral Ratsiraka? Who helped him recruit these 12 French thugs?” These are the first questions to which no journalist is willing to answer for sure. The former president did say, upon leaving Toamasina for Paris, that he was on his way to find a resolution to the Malagasy crisis, for the good of the people. It would seem that he did find it: in the form of a unit composed of 12 rogue soldiers of fortune which eventually was returned to the sender.

The next question which points some suspicions toward France is that her Airport authorities not only were unable to keep the Falcon 900 jet from taking off, they also failed to identify either the commando passengers, already banned from entering Madagascar, their final destination, or the reason for their travel, which should be indicated inside their passports. Moreover, the aircraft originated from a French Military airbase where take-off and security measures should be very strict.

Admiral Ratsiraka, by such a glaring blunder, unwittingly places his rival, President Ravalomanana in a much better position in the eyes of the International community. Even if the Addis Ababa meeting were to take place, this incident, involving these rogue elements would cast a dark shadow from under which the mediators could not easily escape. Unless, of course, these mediators can ignore this dastardly act.

Translated by Jeanne Françoise Razanamiadana