Madagascar's Rajoelina pledges roadmap to end crisis

Madagascar's President of the Highest Transitional Authority (HAT) Andry Rajoelina has promised to present a roadmap to end the crisis to the armed forces on Monday, according to a senior officer of the gendarmerie.

The meeting of the army and Rajoelina could be postponed "if the Pretoria talks to end the crisis fail to come up with anything concrete in the coming days," said the officer declined to be identified.

The officer also disclosed that a meeting will be held on Sunday within the gendarmerie in preparation for the next day's session with the president.

Earlier this month, the army urged Rajoelina to produce a roadmap to end the year-long crisis in the Indian Ocean island country. The army has apparently become impatient since supporting the 36-year-old leader in the ousting of former president Marc Ravalomanana in March 2009.

In a new bid following the failure of last year's agreements, Rajoelina and Ravalomanana opened talks on Wednesday in Pretoria at the initiative of the host South Africa, France and the regional bloc SADC.

Just before leaving for South Africa on Tuesday, Rajoelina already said he would return with a concrete roadmap leading to the establishment of the Fourth Republic on solid grounds.

Although the Pretoria meeting was arranged mainly between Rajoelina and Ravalomanana, a political solution must be adopted by former presidents Didier Ratsiraka and Albert Zafy as well. The four parties signed the Maputo and Addis Ababa agreements last year, which collapsed partly due to Ravalomanana's challenge to Rajoelina's role to head the transition.

HAT is also under pressure from the African Union, which imposed sanctions on Rajoelina and 109 other officials in March for failing to implement the Maputo and Addis Ababa agreements. The sanctions include the denial of travel visas, the freeze of their external assets and the prohibition from international meetings.

Rajoelina's replacement of Ravalomanana is seen as unconstitutional. The international community has been working for a return to democracy and the constitutional order.

Source: Xinhua