Madagascar’s sky locking its doors down

The current struggling power declares all stokes allowed, even if its decision to ban all flights from Mozambique is, in itself, a cause for a diplomatic incident to close the aerial space with Mozambique was likely to provoke a diplomatic incident. The implementation of this very controversial political decision was immediate. In order to demonstrate their determination to force out the other mobilities’ leaders and the institution chiefs empowered by the Maputo and Addis Ababa agreements, the late government Roindefo II government’s outgoing ministers are acting in thorough thoughtlessness, no strings attached.  

First of all, the minister in charge of Transportation, Roland Ranjatoelina, skirted around the issue behind the ACM (Madagascar’s Civilian Aviation) as the ban on all flights from Mozambique had been made public. The decision looks technical. Harassed by the press, the air space regulation service’s deputy director finally gave in. “We are only implementing an order from above”, she owned up while reminding that the service in question is fully depending on the ministry for Transportation.  

This primary measure was somehow a wee bit pathetic, as pointless as inefficient. The political mobilities’ delegations looked for another country fly back to Antananarivo.Rajoelina’s authorities, then, challenged the SADC by banning any flight connection with this regional organization’s country members. This “declaration of war” is serving a couple of purposes: number one, the HAT makes sure that no country in the region can become a gateway for the mobility leaders and the institutions’ chiefs; number two, Andry Rajoelina definitely rules the influence or the involvement of the SADC out of from the Malagasy crisis.  

For the Rajoelina mobility, the SADC is an obstacle, an unfavourable mediator basically enclined to support the ousted president, Marc Ravalomanana. The generalized lockdown of the air space with the country members of the Southern African Development Community took its toll on commercial flights, a problem that never ought to have occurred before since there were previously no air link between Maputo, Nairobi Johannesburg and Antananarivo.   

The minister in charge of Home Security next stained to correct what he could, by directly and exclusively targeting the 25 politicians. By so doing, Organès Rakotomihantarizaka freed reporters and bodyguards previously engulfed in the drama from the authorities’ charges against the mobilities’ delegation members and the national unity institutions’ chiefs. But here came the next clumsy rub again: The latest measure clearly targeted politicians feared by the HAT, but who did not attend the Maputo III meeting. Andry Rajoelina’s gorilla had to correct his error again, but failed to erase his order’s clumsiness.  

In answer to the Rajoelina administration’s challenge, the SADC would have announced its country members’ general air space lockdown to any Air Madagascar aircraft. Now that regional flights have already been sacrificed by the government wandering without Prime Minister, the links with Europe would partly be jeopardized. One will have to cope with multiplied stopovers which are likely to turn into significant burden for a national airline company already torn off by the crisis  

The International Contact Group would be able to restore order in this government led chaos by enforcing the lift of the ban to return inflicted upon delegations, national unity institution’s chiefs and the three mobility leaders. Ravalomanana, Ratsiraka and Zafy are invited to the last chance meeting meant to be held, this time around, in Madagascar.