UNITED
NATIONS, April
26 -- The UN
had said it
cared about
Madagascar,
but
as with so
many things it
was not true,
or there was
no follow
through.
On
April
26 at noon,
Inner City
Press asked
Secretary
General Ban
Ki-moon's
spokesman
Martin
Nesirky:
Inner
City Press:
About Lalao
Ravalomanana,
the wife of
the Marc
Ravalomanana,
she returned
to the country
in March,
apparently she
was asked to
commit to the
Government of
[Andry]
Rajoelina that
she
wouldn’t make
any political
statements as
a condition of
returning
and visiting
her ailing
mother. Now,
she is
announcing
that she is
going to run
for President,
so a lot of
people saying,
since the UN
has had some
involvement in
this, what did
the UN think
of this
condition on
her return,
and do they
believe that
she has an
absolute
right to make
political
statements and
to run for
office? What’s
their position
on this
growing crisis
as some call
it?
Spokesperson
Nesirky:
I’ll check. I
don’t think we
have any
immediate
position on
that, but I’ll
certainly
check for you,
Matthew.
But
seven hours
later there
was no
response. It's
not that the
Department
of Political
Affairs wasn't
working -- as
Inner City
Press reported,
DPA
met with the
Western
European and
Other Group,
which then met
with Qatar
about its
Syria
resolution.
(Spoiler
alert: WEOG
sources
tell Inner
City Press
they demanded
changes to an
Operative
Paragraph.)
But no
response on
Madagascar
from DPA or
Ban's office.
Ban,
meanwhile, was
to meet
with Nicolas
Sarkozy,
although his
spokesman
didn't tell
Inner City
Press despite
its question
on just this
on
April 25.
Back
in May 2012,
the UN
was
partnering
with
Rajoelina's
Ministry of
Communication to
celebrate
World Press
Freedom Day in
Madagascar. On
this same day
Reporters
without
Borders
directly criticized
the
Minister of
Communication
for
threatening to
shut down
Radio Free
FMand for
his part in
the detention
of 2 Free FM
journalists.
Then
after evidence
of
abuse including
gang rape and
the burning of
twenty-some
villages in
southern
Madagascar
emerged, the
transitional
prime
minister --
whose place
Rajoelina now
reportedly
seeks to take
until
he runs again
in 2018 --
said an
investigation
would be
launched. But
has it?
Sources
tell
Inner City
Press that
Rajoelina's
agenda may be
to seek Ban's
support to
change the
order of
elections to
have
legislative
elections
happen on May
8 rather than
presidential
elections.
Now
that
Rajoelina has
given in to
pressure and
declared
himself out of
the running
for president,
there is
publicspeculation
that
he wants to
set up a
stand-in to
run for
president in
2013 with
Rajoelina as
Prime Minister,
then Rajoelina
runs for
president in
2018.
Rajoelina has
already
declared his
candidacy for
2018.
France
has
publicly stated that
it
may support a
candidate in
Madagascar’s
upcoming
presidential
election ("si
nous
encourageons
une
candidature,
ce sera aussi
discrètement
que
possible").
Perhaps
as
part of this
support,
the new
French
ambassador
recently
declared that
ousted-president
Ravalomanana
should not be
allowed to
return to his
country before
the
election.
So
France
favors forced
exile counter
to Article 20
of the SADC
roadmap
for a way out
of the crisis
which states
that
Ravalomanana
should be
allowed to
return to his
country
unconditionally. Vive
la
France.
Regardez cette
site.
, 
