Madagascar vows to arrest ex-leader if he returns home

Madagascar’s deposed president Marc Ravalomanana will be arrested if he returns to the country, a minister said on Wednesday, a day after his aides announced he would go back home from exile.

Ravalomanana has been living in South Africa since his March 2009 ouster by army-backed opposition leader Andry Rajoelina.

He was last year sentenced in absentia to life in prison and hard labour for the death of 30 opposition protesters killed by the presidential guards as they attempted to march on the presidential palace on February 7, 2009.

“If he comes, his conviction will be effected,” said Christine Razanamahasoa, the justice minister of Rajoelina’s government.

“I don’t think his return is possible given the heavy sentence he is facing,” the minister added.

Ravalomanana’s aides said he would return on Saturday and had set up a committee to welcome him. His arrival time and place however remain unknown.

“Marc Ravalomanana has his own security organised.

We will take charge after his arrival,” said Mamy Rakotoarivelo, one of his close associates.

In a statement, the de facto Madagascan authorities said they “will take all the necessary measures against the slightest form of trouble to maintain public security and order across the country.”

Ravalomanana’s sentencing last year was the third since his ouster. He was handed a four-year jail term and a fine for a case of conflict of interest in the purchase of a $60-million presidential jet and five years’ hard labour over a land purchase.

Since his toppling, the Indian Ocean island has been mired in a political crisis and efforts to resolve the impasse have floundered.

Last month, Southern African Development Community mediator Leonardo Simao proposed a new plan to end the prolonged crisis, but none of the various parties have acted on it.

The plan proposes Rajoelina to remain interim president and calls for the formation of an inclusive transitional government which would prepare for presidential and parliamentary polls to be held between May 1 and November 30 this year.

Rajoelina’s power grab has put the island nation in a political limbo after he rejected power-sharing deals with rivals and the international community refusing to acknowledge his rule.—Sapa-AFP