After stating his intention to return to Madagascar on Tuesday, deposed president Marc Ravalomanana has announced his plans to return to the country on Saturday at a press conference in Sandton on Thursday morning.
This is despite a Madagascan minister saying on Wednesday that Ravalomanana would be arrested if he returned to the country, a day after his aides announced he would go back home from exile.
“I am the democratically elected and constitutional president of Madagascar,” said Ravalomanana.
“I never resigned as the president of Madagascar, I merely transferred the power because they were forcing me to leave the country,” he said.
When asked what he thought of the statements made that he would be arrested should he return to the country, Ravalomanana evaded the question and stated simply: “It is time for me to go back home.”
He added allegations against him were unfounded. “Even the International Criminal Court in The Hague said the trial should’ve never taken place.”
“I have nothing to fear,” said Ravalomanana on his return, “I have done nothing wrong.”
Ravalomanana has been living in South Africa since his March 2009 ouster by army-backed opposition leader Andry Rajoelina, Agence France-Presse reported.
Ravalomanana thanked President Jacob Zuma for his contribution to negotiations in the island’s affairs. He also said he was motivated by recent events in Egypt and Tunisia.
He said he believes the solution was to have peaceful talks.
A statement at the press conference read that Ravalomanana is going back to help prepare for free elections.
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.
‘We will take charge after his arrival’
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.