EMMANUEL GIROUD and CHRISTIAN CHADEFAUX, Antananarivo | Tuesday
MADAGASCAR is a country that has two of everything two heads of state, two capitals and government ministries that double up, not to mention two central banks.
All this since presidential elections on December 16, 2001, in which mayor of the capital Antananarivo, Marc Ravalomanana, claimed victory and set up his presidential administration there.
The response of outgoing president, Admiral Didier Ratsiraka, who has ruled the Indian Ocean island for the past 27 years, was to set up shop in the major east coast port of Toamasina, declaring it to be his capital.
Ravalomanana is convinced he won the presidential in the first round and refused a second round, accusing Ratsiraka of rigging the vote.
After weeks of demonstrations, Ravalomanana proclaimed himself president on February 22, and installed his ministers in the premises of their predecessors in the capital, his stronghold.
Since then two presidents who detest and despise each other are coexisting, one “legitimate” in the eyes of his supporters, the other “legal” as far as his camp is concerned.
Ratsiraka moved out of the Iavoloha presidential palace in the capital to stage his cabinet meetings in the provinces.
Officially the “guardian of the constitution,” Ratsiraka has been calling on the capital’s captains of industry to set themselves up in Toamasina, and from his base, he has been trying to strangle Antananarivo by setting up roadblocks to isolate the capital.
Like the national airline, Air Madagascar, and many other public sector enterprises, the central bank has split into two.
On March 15 and April 1, the two governors of the two central banks signed simultaneous orders to mobilise funds held at the US Federal Reserve in order to honour their obligations.
The Fed and the World Bank avoided having to choose and averted automatic suspension of credit lines to one of the world’s poorest countries. The two central bank orders did not contradict each other, so the Federal Reserve took to the simple expedient of honouring both.
Since the situation seems to have gone from temporary to permanent, foreign diplomats have taken to having meetings with outgoing ministers and their incoming rivals, while trying not to upset either.
The situation has been basically peaceful, but there has also been some bloodshed. Soldiers loyal to one or other of the two presidents engaged in bloody clashes last Saturday at Fianarantsoa, inland, south of the capital. Five soldiers died under the fire of their brothers-in-arms.
Like the army, the police are also split and the situation has turned into anarchy in many sectors.
In the administrations, “soviets” have been set up, demanding the head of this or that official. Unending mass meetings of the personnel are being constantly staged.
In some neighbourhoods of the capital, black lists are in circulation and roadblocks are now manned by extortionists who have set themselves up as police.
In some provincial towns, pro-Ratsiraka officers are in charge and have started a reign of terror like local warlords.
Also in the provinces, people manning pro-Ratsiraka roadblocks have organised a profitable black market. – AFP