Madagascar: SADC to talk sanctions
Edwin Tshivhidzo
25 March 2009
Imposing tough sanctions on Madagascar will be top of the agenda when the Southern African Development Community (SADC) meets in Johannesburg at the end of the month.
"It is time tougher action is taken against those who illegally oust democratically elected leaders", South African Defence Minister Charles Nqakula reporters in Pretoria on Friday following a meeting of the SADC's troika on politics, defence and security cooperation in Swaziland.
Madagascan President Marc Ravalomanana handed power to a navy admiral earlier last week after a violent power struggle. The army in turn named opposition leader Andry Rajoelina the country's new leader.
The troika will submit a number of resolutions to the SADC, including a proposal to impose sanctions and use all resources available to restore order in Madagascar.
Nqakula said the mood at the meeting had been characterised by a deep sense of intolerance to the illegal outage of a democratically elected leader.
"The sanctions must send a clear signal that the SADC does not tolerate any ousting of democratically elected leaders," Nqakula said. "They must feel the sanctions."
Nqakula added that the Madagascan situation would be used as a yardstick to see how the SADC and the African Union (AU) responded to situations like this in the future.
Earlier last week, South African President Kgalema Motlanthe, who is the current SADC chairperson, said South Africa and the SADC would not recognise Rajoelina as a president.
SADC executive secretary Tomaz Salamao has been mandated to engage the AU, United Nations and other role players to help define a comprehensive and coherent strategy that would lead to the resolution of the situation in Madagascar.
Source: BuaNews
