Madagascar
Malagasy government to be recognised by Africa

afrol News, 4 February - The extraordinary summit of African leaders in Addis Ababa yestersday produced a recommandation to recognise the government of President Marc Ravalomanana as the legitimate government of Madagascar, and thus finally letting Madagascar enter the African Union (AU).

As the African Union was created as the successor of the Organisation of African Unity last year, the Malagasy government was not even invited. The reason given was that Madagascar was not considered to have a legitimely elected government at the time, as Mr Ravalomanana and ex-President Didier Ratsiraka were fighting over the control of the island.

It did not help that the Malagasy High Constitutional Court ruled that Mr Ravalomanana indeed had been elected by an absolute majority at the presidential polls' first round in December 2001. Not even the US direct recognition and the later French de facto recognition of Ravalomanana's government made AU leaders change their position. Now, the entire world treat Mr Ravalomanana as Madagascar's legitimate President, except the AU.

Last December's parliamentary elections, when Mr Ravalomanana's party won a landslide victoty in front of AU election observers, however seems to have made the necessary impact on the institution.

At yesterday's estraoridnary summit of African Heads of State in the Ethiopian capital, leaders finally recommended that the African Union should recognise Marc Ravalomanana as Madagascar's Head of State. Madagascar therefore soon may fill its empty seat in the union, as Africa's second last country. Only Morocco remains outside, protesting the AU membership of Moroccan-occupied Western Sahara.

In Madagascar, there has been expressed mush disapointement over the AU's stubborness on not recongising its government. President Ravalomanana recently said the Union "was aware that legitimacy was on my side. When I asked them why this did not result in a recognition, they answered this probably would come within short."

In addition to the more or less overt recognition from the US and Europe - President Ravalomanana was on an official visit to Germany only last week - several African countries have defied the AU. Principally, neighbouring Mauritius and France-ally Senegal quickly recognised the island's new government. Others have followed.

The Malagasy press has hailed the extraordinary AU meeting, and expressed hope this would lead to an invitation for Mr Ravalomanana to participate in the next ordinary AU summit, to be in July.

The AU's long resitance to admitting Madagascar was based on the new democracy constitution of the union. This impeds any government that is not legally elected - for example military coup makers - from participating in the union.

Using this paragraph against Mr Ravalomanana has however been criticised as proof that the new Union only would continue to protect dictators already in power, as it had been established that Mr Ravalomanana was the winner of the 2001 Malagasy elections, which ex-President Ratsiraka had tried to falsify. No AU action has for example been taken against Zimbabwe's President Robert Mugabe.
 

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