Crisis resolution: UN envoy, Peter Metcalf, visited the President of the Congress of the Transition

International mediation groups are still pursuing meetings with political parties in Madagascar. Yesterday, Peter Metcalf, the UN envoy, performed an official visit to the President of the Congress of the transition, Raharinaivo Andrianantoandro, at Tsimbazaza.

Peter Metcalf, who is on an assessment mission of the crisis in Madagascar, met Raharinaivo Andrianantoandro yesterday in his office. From their discussion which lasted about an hour, Peter Metcalf has avoided to release any details about the meeting. On the contrary, Raharinaivo Andrianantoandro zealously delivered to the media his impressions. Indeed, the president of the Congress of the Transition did not hide his joy towards the international recognition of the different institutions of the Transition Authority, which is exemplified by such visit of the United Nations envoy.

Actually, for Raharinaivo Andrianantoandro, Mr. Peter Metcalf’s visit symbolizes recognition of him as the president of the Congress of the Transition. “It is a proof that the international community recognizes the current government’s institutions if Mr. Peter Metcalf came directly to my office to meet me”, he stressed during a brief press conference. He then said that the discussions focused exclusively on the crisis.

According to Raharinaivo Andrianantoandro “Mr. Peter Metcalf addressed the underlying problems of the crisis and the terms of reference needed to resolve the crisis”. Yet, he did not provide more details on the subject. Furthermore, during his meeting with the UN envoy, Raharinaivo Andrianatoandro defended, in his own words, his emphatic support to the resolutions taken during the National Conference and the Political Agreements of Ivato, which should be set as the bases in the process of crisis resolution. At this point, “other political parties have the right to be part of the process which is already applied at the time being without demanding any preconditions”, he insisted.