Andry Rajoelina PHOTOS: Getty
Andry Rajoelina: Exclusive Interview
By Spencer Anderson | Published: 28 July, 2010
“We are on the path to reform and this is the first time that the one in power will not run in the next presidential election. This has always been a problem in Madagascar and in Africa, because those in power always want to stay”
It is difficult to find anyone in Madagascar these days who thinks that the sanctions levelled on it by the Southern African Development Community, the European Union and the United States are justified. The official version of events is that there was no coup, merely a transfer of power that ousted a corrupt and unpopular president who was eroding their democracy. Sanctions, therefore, are simply misguided and unfair.
The international community would disagree. The president of the country’s interim government, Andry Rajoelina, a former disc jockey, media entrepreneur and head of the Tanora Malagasy Vonona youth movement, was elected mayor of the capital Antananarivo in 2007. During his tenure he became a figurehead for a popular protest movement against then president Marc Ravalomanana, which escalated in late 2008. In March 2009 Mr Ravalomanana stepped down, handing power to the military, which duly passed on control to Mr Rajoelina. In the definitions of the US and EU, this qualified as a coup d’état.
The US government terminated a $110m Millennium Challenge Corporation compact in the country and other donors cut off aid, which previously contributed some 75 percent of the government’s budget. The suspension of trade agreements with the US, such as the African Growth and Opportunity Act, could see the output of the textiles sector, previously an important growth engine, cut by 20 percent, according to estimates from the African Development Bank and OECD. Tourism could fall by 50 percent. The economy shrunk by 4.5 percent in 2009, and most analysts recognise that a return to growth is dependent on a resolution to the political stalemate.
Today, on the dusty streets of Antananarivo, people are weary of both the sanctions and the transitional government, and are clearly annoyed that ultimately they will have to pay the price for a dispute that was largely a conflict among the country’s elite. In June, Madagascar celebrated its 50th anniversary of independence from France without any major incidents, but there were small, silent protests. People broke tradition by refusing to display flags from their homes.
For Mr Rajoelina it seems that there is little that can be done until fresh elections are held. He has tried on several occasions to broker a deal that would remove the sanctions but each time talks have collapsed after demands were made for his resignation. Commenting on the sanctions, Mr Rajoelina begins diplomatically by thanking Sadc for trying to resolve the political crisis and saying that he will continue to work with them in looking for a solution.
In a surprising gambit that was most likely made in hope of ending the sanctions, Mr Rajoelina announced in May that he would not stand in the upcoming elections – a fact that he is keen to emphasise now. He says it was a decision he made by himself, without any influence from the army, which remains an influential actor in Malagasy politics. Sanctions remain in place regardless, but at the very least the country should soon have a new government.
