Progress has been achieved towards finding a solution to Madagascar’s crisis, the chief international mediator said on Wednesday after talks between the island’s top four political players.
”It started well, they are talking to each other openly. There is some progress, even though diverging views remain,” former Mozambican president Joaquim Chissano said.
”There is only one agenda: finding a solution,” he added, after a first session between the leaders of Madagascar’s four main political groupings that started late on Tuesday.
Andry Rajoelina, a 35-year-old former disc jockey, toppled Madagascan president Marc Ravalomanana with the army’s backing on March 17 but has since failed to win the recognition of the international community.
The coup came as a result of months of sometimes violent demonstrations that left the island in diplomatic and institutional limbo, with parallel administrations claiming legitimacy.
Rajoelina, Ravalomanana and two other former presidents agreed in Maputo in August to a 15-month transition period but have since sparred over the details of power-sharing.
At the opening of the fresh round of talks in Addis Ababa on Tuesday, African Union Commission chairperson Jean Ping reminded them of their ”responsibility in the face of history”. — Sapa-AFP