Africa Unites – SADC, AU, COMESA Leaders Stand Strongly With President Marc Ravalomanana

Since a coup d’état in March forced him to leave Madagascar, President Marc
Ravalomanana has been hard at work lobbying the international community to
help restore democracy and order in Madagascar. His efforts are now yielding
 real dividends, as African nations are united behind him and his drive to restore
order....

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Africa Unites – SADC, AU, COMESA Leaders Stand Strongly With President Marc Ravalomanana
Since a coup d’état in March forced him to leave Madagascar, President Marc Ravalomanana has been hard at work lobbying the international community to help restore democracy and order in Madagascar. His efforts are now yielding real dividends, as African nations are united behind him and his drive to restore order.
In recent days, COMESA issued a strongly-worded statement of support for the restoration of order considering all options, including military intervention. Immediately following the summit, President Ravalomanana attended meetings in Cape Town to discuss the Madagascar crisis with South African President Jacob Zuma, Chairman of SADC, and His Majesty King Mswati III of Swaziland, Chairman of the SADC Organ on Politics, Defense and Security. Both leaders strongly support President Ravalomanana’s return to Madagascar so he can participate in on-going efforts to bring about a peaceful solution to the current crisis, a provision included in prior statements issued by SADC and the AU.
President Ravalomanana had the opportunity to discuss the current situation in Madagascar and the need to act urgently if further Malagasy suffering and harm were to be prevented. That the illegitimate regime seized power in a coup d’état in March, and has continued to rebuke the international community by illegally and unconstitutionally holding onto power, was duly noted. As such, no nation has recognized the illegal regime, a call that was echoed by COMESA earlier this week. The leaders discussed the stalled efforts to restore constitutional order in Madagascar, and weighed all options, including that of military intervention.
A united Africa sends a strong message to would-be agitators that coup d’état and undemocratic moves will not be tolerated in the region. Effective management of this crisis by leaders in the region could well become a case study for dealing with future conflicts. Moreover, a united Africa is a positive development in the way of greater regional stability, a pre-step to more sustainable kinds of development and integration.
President Ravalomanana took the opportunity to inform President Zuma and King Mswati III of the outcry in Madagascar against the illegal regime. Men and women, elders and students, civil servants, bank employees, port employees, factory workers, and farmers, have all taken to the streets in recent days to protest what will turn out to be numbered days of an illegitimate regime. In a message directed at his supporters and all Malagasy people alike, President Ravalomanana said, “the coming weeks and months are going to be an historic effort, the likes of which we have not seen in Madagascar, to recover for the Malagasy people what has been lost through the destruction reaped by this coup d’état.”

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