Guerrilla fighting in the south of Madagascar: the army determined to wipe the Dahalo away

Sending elite forces to deny access to the Place of Democracy to peaceful protesters has substantially been tarnishing the image of the alleged supreme head of the Transitional Forces. Rajoelina has now the opportunity to redeem himself to a certain extent by ordering his senior army officers to send reinforcements to South-Amboasary and Ambovobe and break the rule of terror imposed by Dahalo militiamen to the local population. The national state police’s GSIS squad, part of the Emmo Nat forces, are clearing for action. Ambohitsorohitra’s Special Intervention Force (FIS) stays however on the sideline in Ambohitsorohitra.

The 150 men having left Antananarivo may expect to get military support from cities and towns like Fianarantsoa and Ihosy. This contingent’s mission is simple: securing the operation area, recovering stolen zebus, returning them to their respective owners and crushing any armed resistance from the Dahalo. They and a previous smaller contingent actually got the same mission. The story started with a track down operation against the Dahalo leader Remena Bila and his gang who has been capturing the attention during the latest 3 months.

They were 50 soldiers and policemen, half of them based in Sakaraha, 15 others in the region of Anosy and the rest of them were military reinforcements. The squad captured one hundred Zebus left behind by the Dahalo in the run of their retreat. The military forces broke off. One third turned back with the booty. The other couple of thirds kept tracking the fleeing Dahalo down. But it was no runaway.

Saturday, June 9th in Bekofafa – commune of Befotaka: the seemingly fleeing bandits ambushed the pursuing security forces. The confrontation actually got a foregone conclusion long before it started. Apart from their traditional AK-47 Kalashnikov type rifles, the Dahalo used quite significant weaponry made of shotguns, machine guns and rocket propelled grenades according to the testimony of a surviving policeman. The government forces taken by surprise suffered quite heavy casualties: five state policemen and one soldier brought down, four others wounded, four others missing in action. One of the latest four resurfaced anew, safe and sound, a little later.

As an evidence of extreme defiance, the Dahalo even returned their war trophies, namely the weapons captured from dead privates. Some eleven AK-47 Kalashnikov type rifles without magazines were handed over to the village of Ranontsara. The ultimate provocation consisted in openly challenging the government forces, by daring them to come and retrieve their brothers-in-arms’ bodies if they ever had the balls to do it, and by advising them to come with reinforcements if they could ever find any. About the three missing privates is nothing known yet. End of act one.

The army’s top command promised drastic retaliation deemed to draw this dahalo insurrection to an end. The transitional parliament member Razanadahy Bonaventure focused on the reports obtained up to this failed operation: 14 civilians and one policeman killed, 4000 stolen zebus. “The government must quickly do what it takes,” he said.

While carefully keeping away from unveiling any detail of the ongoing search-and-destroy operation, a senior member of the state police explained that they intend to encircle and bring the Dahalo down. The targeted mark’s position happens to be a village in which some 20 families are likely to be detained as human shields. Civilian officers were sent first in order to negotiate an evacuation. The bandits are entrenched in a tactically well protected lair. Not even a siege would prove that easy.

Observers rather look for explanations to the resumption of raids after cattle. Zebu flesh exports abroad have recently resumed, and the social reflection of the political crisis does not contribute to improve security at all… let alone the lack or at the most, the weakness of any ruling government. The alleged political destabilization process, the traditional plot theory against the ruling regime is the least likely of them all.