20 June 2009
Cape Town — Southern African leaders have responded to the deadlock in talks over Madagascar's future by appointing former Mozambican president Joaquim Chissano as a mediator to lead an all-party dialogue for the island.
At the end of a day-long extraordinary summit on the deadlock, chaired by President Jacob Zuma of South Africa, the leaders voiced their frustration at "the slow progress" of the talks and resolved to speed them up.
"The extraordinary summit expressed serious concern on the deteriorating political situation in Madagascar mainly characterized by exacerbating hostility among the different political groups in Madagascar," the leaders said.
The summit, held in Johannesburg, included heads of state and government of the Southern African Development Community (SADC), among them King Mswati III of Swaziland, President President Hifikepunye Pohamba of Namibia, President Jakaya Kikwete of Tanzania and President Robert Mugabe of Zimbabwe.
SADC and the African Union have both rejected as unconstitutional the seizure of power in March by opposition leader Andry Rajoelina, whose administration is now isolated internationally.
In a communique issued after the summit on Saturday, the leaders also urged the people of Madagascar "to take active ownership of the inclusive dialogue and refrain from any forms of exclusion in the process..." They also said a commonly-accepted venue for the dialogue within Southern Africa also needed to be found.
The ousted president of Madagascar, Marc Ravalomanana, said he planned to be at the summit but one report said it was unclear whether he had been given an opportunity to address it. Madagascar was suspended from SADC membership after Rajoelina's power-grab.
Earlier this month, Ravalomanana was seated at a summit of member states of the Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa (Comesa) held in Victoria Falls, Zimbabwe. The summit, chaired by Mugabe, resolved that all options for restoring constitutional rule in Madagascar needed to be examined, "including the possibility of military intervention."
Although there is considerable overlap between the membership of SADC and Comesa, the threat of military intervention was not taken up by Saturday's SADC summit.
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Hilarious!
Comrade Bob at the head of COMESA delivering "wisdom" on how to avoid conflict!
I suppose Comrade Bob asked, "have you tried killing all of your opponents? In my experience, that seems to work very well."
Hahahahahahahahahahahaha!
Sadly, it's only the people of Zimbabwe that suffer from such ridiculousness.
It only reduces the credibility and stature of any African organzation to have someone like Bloodstained Bob at the head table.
"African solutions for African problems" - how have they EVER worked out?
"Total Empowerment!" If only all of Africa could be so empowered as Zimbabwe!
Isn't it ironic that President Ravalomanana was forced to attend the summit when the opposition took power - AND he applied to Bloodstained Bob for supplication!
It's ironic when COMESA wants to discuss the situation in Madagascar and the head of COMESA at this juncture is none other than Bloodstained Bob himself! The question should be: "what is Bloodstained Bob doing at the head of ANY pan-African forum?"
Maybe Comrade Bob can send his N. Korean trained brigades to Madagascar to "liberate" them from despotism...................
Hahahahahahahahahahahaha!
Comrade Bob referring to despotism surely sends Mephistopholes into conniptions!
If only present-day… [Read Full Text]
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Active Discussions: Crisis Talks Over Madagascar