Madagascar rejects Ravalomanana’s claim about return

Madagascar rejects Ravalomanana’s claim about return

ANTANANARIVO — The transitional regime in Madagascar dismissed as bluff an announcement by ousted president Marc Ravalomanana that he would defy the threat of arrest and return from exile on Saturday. "I don't think he'll come," Alain Ramaroson, a senior official who heads the transition's defence and security committee in parliament's upper chamber, told AFP Friday.

"If he comes back, he has to abide by the laws of the republic, will therefore be arrested at the airport and face justice," he said. "It's nothing but a major bluff but we're not taking any chances." Ravalomanana was ousted by the Indian Ocean island's new strongman Andry Rajoelina with the army's backing on March 17, 2009.

The 61-year-old self-made millionaire was last year sentenced in absentia to life in prison and hard labour for the death of 30 opposition protesters killed by presidential guards as they attempted to march on the presidential palace in February 2009. The sentencing was Ravalomanana's third since his ouster. He was previously handed a four- year jail term and a fine for a case of conflict of interest in the purchase of a 60-million-dollar presidential jet and five years' hard labour over a land purchase.

Ravalomanana has spent the past two years in exile, mainly in South Africa, where he announced Thursday that he would return to his homeland on Saturday, insisting he was still the island's rightful leader. "I return to my country humbly, so that we can return to democracy, and together create a bright future for Madagascar," he told reporters in Johannesburg.

On Friday Madagascar's foreign affairs ministry summoned the South African ambassador over Ravalomanana's plan to return home. Ravalomanana said Thursday the rule of Rajoelina, the army-backed opposition leader who ousted him in a March 2009 coup, was illegal and it was time for him to return home.

"I know the risks facing my return, but cannot allow them to get in the way of us restoring democracy. I have nothing to fear. I have done nothing wrong," he said. The former president appeared confident as spoke at a lectern bearing Madagascar's national seal, saying his decision to return had been influenced by the recent protests in Tunisia and Egypt.

While the autocratic Ravalomanana was criticised during his seven-year graft-tainted tenure, Rajoelina has failed to secure international recognition. The deadlock has left the island in a political and economic limbo that foreign mediations and home-grown dialogue alike have been unable to break.As rumours of Ravalomanana's return intensified this week, the island's transition authorities said they were taking a number of security measures "in order to maintain security and public order." Supporters of the former president accused the authorities of trying to intimdate them. Thousands were expected to turn out to meet him, they said.

"We're expecting at least 250,000 people," Ravalomanana supporter Constant Raveloson told AFP. "People have been gearing up for this for months." Antonio, 32, who works in a restaurant in the capital, made no attempt to hide his enthusiasm about welcoming his hero at the airport.

"They can't arrest him. He's still Madagascar's elected president," he told AFP. "I'm not afraid. There won't be trouble. We won't cause trouble at any rate." David, a taxi driver in his early forties, echoed that enthusiasm. "For the past two years there has been no work and lots of security problems and the price of rice has gone up. Marc Ravalomanana will solve these problems," he said.