Antananarivo -
Madagascar’s fragile political stability was shaken on Monday when former president Marc Ravalomanana returned unexpectedly from five years of exile in South Africa and was almost immediately detained.
A large contingent of heavily armed security force members in balaclavas burst through a crowd of supporters outside Ravalomanana’s house in the capital Antananarivo while he was eating lunch and took him away to an unknown destination.
Ravalomanana’s special envoy in South Africa, human rights lawyer Brian Currin, said: “His arrest is a total disgrace.“
However, diplomats in Antananarivo said President Hery Rajaonarimampianina’s office was claiming that Ravalomanana had not been arrested but had been taken into “protective custody” because of fears that he might come to harm from arch-enemy Andry Rajoelina and his military supporters.
Rajoelina toppled Ravalomanana in a military-backed coup in March 2009 and ran the country until elections late last year which Rajaonarimampianina won.
In 2012, Rajoelina prevented Ravalomanana from returning to Madagascar by turning back in mid-flight a scheduled SA Airlink passenger aircraft which had Ravalomanana on board.
Diplomats based in the country are sceptical of the protective custody explanation for the arrest, but have not dismissed it entirely.
They said the country was tense after the day’s events and ambassadors of some of the key countries represented in Madagascar, including South Africa, the US and the EU, were planning to meet on Tuesday to discuss how to deal with the new developments.
Some criticised Ravalomanana for returning to Madagascar without first clearing this with the government, fearing this could destabilise the country’s already fragile politics which were slowly recovering from the aftermath of the 2009 coup.
They said the Southern African Development Community (SADC) which had been supervising efforts to return Madagascar to democracy, had been trying to negotiate with the Malagasy government for Ravalomanana’s return to the island.
But Currin said there was nothing illegal about Ravalomanana being in Madagascar. He noted that the SADC road map which led to the elections also upheld Ravalomanana’s right to return to Madagascar.
“We’ve been trying since the beginning of this year to negotiate his return...
“It is most unfortunate that SADC has done very little to ensure full implementation of the road map - including his return - more than 10 months since democratic elections.
“For peace, security and sustainable democracy, his presence and participation in Madagascar are essential.
“Instead of arresting him, President Hery Rajaonarimampianina - who has already had dialogue with the president in South Africa - should be welcoming him back to the country as part of national reconciliation.”
Diplomats in Antananarivo did not know how Ravalomanana had managed to slip back into the country.
His passport had been seized a few years ago by the North Gauteng High Court where he is facing charges of complicity in the presidential guard’s killing of protesters in Antananarivo in February, 2009.
This meant he could not have flown into Antananarivo’s international airport.
Ravalomanana’s son Tojo said 60 to 70 members of the Gendarmerie had injured some of his father’s supporters as they entered his house to order him to go with them.
He did not know where they had taken him. - Independent Foreign Service
Cape Times