Madagascar’s opposition movements refused to enter into Andry Rajoelina’s unity government on Saturday and warned the Indian Ocean island was heading towards a ”dangerous situation”.
Rajoelina, who seized power in a March coup, on Friday declared he would head the transition and ordered his prime minister to form a government of national unity and restore constitutional order on the oil and mineral-endowed island after months of turmoil.
”Of course we will not participate in this government. We reject it,” Emmanuel Rakotovahiny, a senior member of former President Albert Zafy’s delegation, told Reuters.
”The country is moving towards a dangerous situation where there may never be peace,” he added.
Madagascar’s four power brokers — Rajoelina, Zafy and former presidents’ Marc Ravalomanana and Didier Ratsiraka — signed a power-sharing accord in early August but have been deadlocked since on who should take key posts.
Under the terms of the deal struck in Mozambique’s capital Maputo, the four rivals must pick a consensus government, sharing out the top posts of president, vice-president, prime minister and 28 ministers, among the four parties.
In a signed statement posted on the popular blog site ‘Sobika’, the Ratsiraka movement said 35-year-old Rajoelina had broken the spirit of the Maputo charter in appointing himself and his prime minister to the two key posts.
”Following the declaration of Andry Rajoelina, who has flagrantly contradicted what was agreed at Maputo … the Ratsiraka movement, and all those who support it, reject this decision of Mr Rajoelina,” the statement signed by Ange Andrianarisoa, head of the Ratsiraka delegation, said.
Rajoelina, a former mayor of the capital Antananarivo, spearheaded weeks of deadly street protests earlier this year and toppled Ravalomanana with the help of a dissident faction of the military.
He has remained steadfast in demanding the offices of both the president and prime minister in a transitional government.
A senior Ravalomanana ally, Fetison Andrianirina, called on Saturday for the international community to intervene.
”To unilaterally set up a government was not part of the Maputo deal. It’s a form of dictatorship they’re establishing,” he said.
The armed forces have rejected an opposition call to head the transition, stressing the military has no role to play in politics. – Reuters