UNO: no recognition and no statement for Andry Rajoelina

Andry Rajoelina, president of the High authority in Madagascar, was present in the UN building without being recognized like a “president”. Formerly part of the program in the set of official speeches at the occasion of the UN’s 64th General Assembly, the Malagasy delegation chief has been, once, withdrawn from the speakers’ list on Thursday September 24th. Some UN members have allegedly opposed the participation of a chief of state who has put his grip on power in an unconstitutional way. 

The president of the HAT has, then, been granted a second chance. The president of the general assembly was keen on honouring the United Nations’ commitment to officially invite the Malagasy. The Congolese Foreign minister Alexis Thambwe Mwamba, has, on behalf of the SADC, stood up against the involvement of Andry Rajoelina, reminding that Madagascar has been suspended by the SADC and by the AU. The problem is not the country but its leading authorities empowered by a Coup. 

Andry Rajoelina has, then, been included again in the speakers’ list for Friday’s session. The session has been disrupted by a debate about the recognition of the president of the HAT as a chief of state fully deserving the privilege to address the UN’s General Assembly. Ali Takri attested to the audience that the SADC has argued with the president of the general assembly, and that the latter has taken the decision to follow the legal adviser’s recommendation. Andry Rajoelina has been invited, and got entitled to speak. The SADC members’ determination has not yet been reckoned with. 

Alexis Thambwe Mwamba, the chief of the Congolese diplomacy, did not give up defending the SADC and the AU position. He threatened that delegations not recognizing Andry Rajoelina, the president of a Coup originated authority, were going to leave the assembly if he ever uttered a word. The session’s president, therefore, called upon a vote to determine whether the one that came to represent Madagascar would be allowed to address the General Assembly or not. 

Few minutes of confusion later, most delegations were still missing the roots of the problem; the vote has been completed with some abstentions. Ali Takri declared that the majority was against granting the president of Madagascar’s high authority of transition the right to speak. So ended the mist of confusion born from the invitation given by the UN to Andry Rajoelina. Anyway, the later was allowed to take part in meetings on the fringe of the general assembly. 

The young self proclaimed president has again put his foot in it after his statement at the time of the round table on the climate change theme. Several web sites actually revealed far too many similarities with a speech held a couple of years ago by Luxemburg’s foreign minister. Was that due to a youth mistake or to poor advisors unable to write down any high-level speech for the United Nations? In any case, the embarrassment has never been so acute. Andry Rajoelina addressing the general assembly of the United Nations Organization in the midst of a bogged down political crisis, it was too good to be true.