Anglo-Malagasy Society Newsletter 91: March 2016 |
| ||
Society activities
The Society’s first meeting in 2016 will be on 30th March with a talk by Hannah Russell, James Penney and Corty Linder on their medical expedition to Madagascar where they ran a programme that did screening for schistosomiasis or bilharzia in the remote district of Marolambo. The dates for later in the year are 22nd June in the evening, an event to commemorate the country’s Independence Day on 26th June, and a daytime gathering on 22nd October.
There will be further details on our website, which also has a summary of some of the previous talks for those unable to attend, together with much other useful information. This includes directions to the venue for our meetings, which is the Upper Vestry Hall of St George’s Church, Bloomsbury, London WC1A 2HR, two minutes’ walk from the British Museum.
The next newsletter will be published in June 2016. Please send any material for inclusion as well as any changes in your contact details to the editor Julian Cooke, whose e-mail address is [email protected].
There will be further details on our website, which also has a summary of some of the previous talks for those unable to attend, together with much other useful information. This includes directions to the venue for our meetings, which is the Upper Vestry Hall of St George’s Church, Bloomsbury, London WC1A 2HR, two minutes’ walk from the British Museum.
The next newsletter will be published in June 2016. Please send any material for inclusion as well as any changes in your contact details to the editor Julian Cooke, whose e-mail address is [email protected].
Politics in Madagascar
The last three months in Madagascar have been relatively calm in the political arena after the senatorial elections at the end of December.
President Hery Rajaonarimampianina’s party HVM did very well in the elections especially considering it was only two years’ old. It took 65% of the votes in the twenty-two regions and took three-quarters of the seats, helped by support from members of other parties such as former president Marc Ravalomanana’s Tiako-i-Madagasikara (TIM) and MAPAR, the party supporting Andry Rajoelina, which took only 10% and 6% respectively. There were claims of undue pressure by Monja Roindefo, a former prime minister under the Transition, who lost in Toliara while another former prime minister Omer Beriziky also lost, in Antsiranana. Thierry Rakotonarivo, the vice-president of the new electoral commission CENI, conceded that there had been numerous anomalies while saying that it was up to the Haute Cour Constitutionelle (HCC) to annul any results – it received twenty-two requests to do so. Losing parties cited early poll closing, undue pressure and the buying of votes as factors, as well as criticising the persistence in holding the election during the rainy season. Jean Ranaivosoa of the Marina party called for an annulment, comparing the country’s lack of democracy to North Korea. Rafolisisoa Hanitriniala, the head of the Union Nationale Malgache pour les Droits de l’Homme (UNMDH) said it was the most corrupt poll since the country’s independence.
On 21st January the HCC confirmed that HVM had won 34 of the 42 seats, TIM three and MAPAR two, including a controversial figure in Colonel René Lylison, the former head of the Force d’Intervention Spéciale (FIS) under the Transition, who soon used his position to criticise the current régime. The HCC revised results from 138 polling stations covering 530 votes (out of 12,560 mayors and municipal councillors), mainly for HVM in Toliara province and for breaches of secrecy in the ballot.
The President now had a fair mandate following success in the mayoral elections earlier in 2015, which prompted some consideration that he might with the Senate dissolve the problematic National Assembly. There are regional and provincial elections due in 2016, as well as the summits for COMESA in October and the Francophone countries in November (to prepare for which its Secretary-General, the Canadian Michaëlle Jean, visited in March). The elections will need further funding while there have been concerns over the readiness for the summits of hotels and the airport at Ivato, which is being refurbished, as well as over security (ten Israeli specialists in anti-terrorism visited in January, having advised on a previous summit in Kinshasha in 2012). There remain two institutions to establish under the agreed political road-map: the Haute Cour de Justice (HCJ) and the Haut Conseil pour la Défense de la Démocratie et de l’État de Droit (HCDDED). Jean-Eric Rakotoarisoa, the HCC president, called in late January for applications for the nine posts in the HCDDED. International parties are keen on completion of the road-map, as emphasised on a visit by Linda Thomas-Greenfield, the US Under-Secretary of State for African Affairs, who also stressed the need to protect the environment and to work with the African Union to help secure peace in the region. However, both Mohamed Amar, the Moroccan ambassador, and Antonio Sanchez-Benedito, representing the EU, said the country could not rely on international donors and needed to do more itself.
President Rajaonarimampianina’s new year discourse in January came amidst some concerns over security and the cost of the event. He said that the country now had a degree of political stability with the level of support for his party. Forty-five generals were appointed, a typical feature of January. Ravalomanana continued his move for rehabilitation after a meeting with South African diplomats on 8th January and pursued his claims for the restoration of property belonging to his company TIKO.
In late January Jean-Max Rakotomamonjy was suspended as the leader of the Leader Fanilo party; the President of the National Assembly had been criticised for helping to have his wife elected as a senator in Antsiranana. The head of the FJKM, or association of Protestant churches, Pastor Lala Rasendrahasina, spoke at a large annual mass for the Protestant churches in Madagascar of the need for state entities to regain their moral purpose and said that the church still had a role to play, especially on the matter of national reconciliation. President Rajaonarimampianina was present but did not speak although he did maintain that relations were still good between the churches and the state.
On 24th January Andry Rajoelina, on a brief return from France, said that he would resume his political ambitions in Madagascar later in the year to clean up the country, noting that a coup d’état would not be necessary as the HVM government would fall by itself.
Ahead of the African Union (AU) summit in Addis Ababa at the end of January a delegation visited Madagascar, led by the former Algerian foreign minister Lakhdar Brahimi, who said that the country had yet to establish the ‘responsibility pact’ that the HCC had proposed and that its position remained fragile. The summit itself expressed its encouragement at the progress made and a degree of greater stability. Rajaonarimampianina met the head of the United Nations, Ban Ki Moon, at the summit when they discussed recent elections, the need for stability in the country, the fight against corruption and respect for human rights.
On 1st February the President announced his twenty-one appointments to the Senate from a high number of applicants reaching some 400 who while not exclusively from his HVM party might be expected to support his programme. The list included just six women as well as two current ministers, a former prime minister in Roger Koro and a former head of the Senate under Didier Ratsiraka (and the HCC) in Honoré Rakotomanana, who was elected head of the chamber and therefore would assume the duties of the President of the country when Rajaonarimampianina could not. Six of the seven vice-presidents were from HVM. The new Senate was due to make its recommendations for various institutions such as the HCJ, the HCDDED and the HCC. However, the prime minister said the government did not propose recalling parliament for a special session for such nominations.
The Freedom Association, led by Lalatiana Rakotondrazafy and appealing to a younger group in part through the radio station Free FM, announced that it would become formally a political party, thus becoming the 191st recognised as such by the Ministry of the Interior.
The commemoration of the events of 7th February 2009, one of the worst in the coup that year, passed quietly; this year was potentially significant as both Ravalomanana and Rajoelina were for the first time present in the country. Colonel Charles Andrianasoavina repeated his claim that Rajoelina and René Lylison had been behind the events and the head of the army disciplined him for expressing a political view while still a serving officer; Ravalomanana denied any such responsibility.
A meeting in February between the prime minister Jean Ravelonarivo and ambassadors from the EU, which was held at the UK ambassador’s residence, discussed the next stages of the proposed 11th Fonds Européens de Développement (FED), decentralisation, the formation of the Haute Cour de Justice, the fight against illicit trafficking, the drought in the south and the business environment. Antonio Sanchez Benedito, the EU ambassador, said that there had been some effort but that challenges remained and that the EU was not 100% satisfied. The prime minister was reported to be absent from the next meeting in March which was a further indication of the split between him and the President.
An article in La Gazette on 15th February regretted the lack of progress in nominating any ambassadors for countries such as France, Germany, the US and the UK, which was attributed in part to the lack of suitable candidates. There have been no new appointments under the new President and the only ones in their post remain those in China, Canada and Senegal who were appointed by Ravalomanana. The prime minister left in February for another visit to Paris which his office said was not to do with his health but instead to hold a series of political and economic meetings.
There was a scandal in February when Pastor Rasendrahasina, one of whose deputies at the FJKM is Ravalomanana, was questioned over a visit to a massage parlour. Ravalomanana said that the unjust accusations had been orchestrated by the presidency. Rasendrahasina, however, apologised to his followers for visiting an inappropriate place while maintaining that his conscience was clear; he stepped aside pending a synod meeting in Antsirabe that will decide his future. In late March Ravalomanana declared he would stand for the presidential elections in 2018.
In March President Rajaonarimampianina made a four-day state visit to Mauritius where he was the chief guest of the government for the celebrations marking the 48th anniversary of its independence and 24th anniversary of the Republic of Mauritius.
In Transparency International’s annual review of corruption Madagascar scored 28/100 and was ranked 123rd out of the 168 countries evaluated, compared to 127th of 177 in 2013 and 133rd of 175 in 2014. Madagascar’s ranking was helped by seven countries that usually score poorly not being in the study. The head of the anti-corruption body BIANCO said that he wanted the country’s score, unchanged for three years, to move by 2025 to 50/100 compared to a current global average of 45/100; the amount in the budget allocated to fight corruption has increased from 0.1% to 0.5%. The US ambassador, Robert Yamate, noted with regret that arrests of those trafficking rosewood had been almost non-existent since 2013.
Amnesty International’s annual report on the state of human rights in the world indicated that there had been no improvement in Madagascar in the last two years. The organisation criticised extrajudicial killings during the campaign against cattle rustling as well as the harassment of journalists, students and militant ecologists.
Jean-Claude Razaraniaina, the director of SAMIFIN, bemoaned on his retirement the lack of judicial pursuit of financial concerns: only three of the 193 cases his team had submitted had been investigated, of which two had been suspended and in the third the culprit while indicted was still at liberty. He also complained that only fifteen of the 114 bank accounts they had blocked remained frozen, the others having been unfrozen without any inquiry.
President Hery Rajaonarimampianina’s party HVM did very well in the elections especially considering it was only two years’ old. It took 65% of the votes in the twenty-two regions and took three-quarters of the seats, helped by support from members of other parties such as former president Marc Ravalomanana’s Tiako-i-Madagasikara (TIM) and MAPAR, the party supporting Andry Rajoelina, which took only 10% and 6% respectively. There were claims of undue pressure by Monja Roindefo, a former prime minister under the Transition, who lost in Toliara while another former prime minister Omer Beriziky also lost, in Antsiranana. Thierry Rakotonarivo, the vice-president of the new electoral commission CENI, conceded that there had been numerous anomalies while saying that it was up to the Haute Cour Constitutionelle (HCC) to annul any results – it received twenty-two requests to do so. Losing parties cited early poll closing, undue pressure and the buying of votes as factors, as well as criticising the persistence in holding the election during the rainy season. Jean Ranaivosoa of the Marina party called for an annulment, comparing the country’s lack of democracy to North Korea. Rafolisisoa Hanitriniala, the head of the Union Nationale Malgache pour les Droits de l’Homme (UNMDH) said it was the most corrupt poll since the country’s independence.
On 21st January the HCC confirmed that HVM had won 34 of the 42 seats, TIM three and MAPAR two, including a controversial figure in Colonel René Lylison, the former head of the Force d’Intervention Spéciale (FIS) under the Transition, who soon used his position to criticise the current régime. The HCC revised results from 138 polling stations covering 530 votes (out of 12,560 mayors and municipal councillors), mainly for HVM in Toliara province and for breaches of secrecy in the ballot.
The President now had a fair mandate following success in the mayoral elections earlier in 2015, which prompted some consideration that he might with the Senate dissolve the problematic National Assembly. There are regional and provincial elections due in 2016, as well as the summits for COMESA in October and the Francophone countries in November (to prepare for which its Secretary-General, the Canadian Michaëlle Jean, visited in March). The elections will need further funding while there have been concerns over the readiness for the summits of hotels and the airport at Ivato, which is being refurbished, as well as over security (ten Israeli specialists in anti-terrorism visited in January, having advised on a previous summit in Kinshasha in 2012). There remain two institutions to establish under the agreed political road-map: the Haute Cour de Justice (HCJ) and the Haut Conseil pour la Défense de la Démocratie et de l’État de Droit (HCDDED). Jean-Eric Rakotoarisoa, the HCC president, called in late January for applications for the nine posts in the HCDDED. International parties are keen on completion of the road-map, as emphasised on a visit by Linda Thomas-Greenfield, the US Under-Secretary of State for African Affairs, who also stressed the need to protect the environment and to work with the African Union to help secure peace in the region. However, both Mohamed Amar, the Moroccan ambassador, and Antonio Sanchez-Benedito, representing the EU, said the country could not rely on international donors and needed to do more itself.
President Rajaonarimampianina’s new year discourse in January came amidst some concerns over security and the cost of the event. He said that the country now had a degree of political stability with the level of support for his party. Forty-five generals were appointed, a typical feature of January. Ravalomanana continued his move for rehabilitation after a meeting with South African diplomats on 8th January and pursued his claims for the restoration of property belonging to his company TIKO.
In late January Jean-Max Rakotomamonjy was suspended as the leader of the Leader Fanilo party; the President of the National Assembly had been criticised for helping to have his wife elected as a senator in Antsiranana. The head of the FJKM, or association of Protestant churches, Pastor Lala Rasendrahasina, spoke at a large annual mass for the Protestant churches in Madagascar of the need for state entities to regain their moral purpose and said that the church still had a role to play, especially on the matter of national reconciliation. President Rajaonarimampianina was present but did not speak although he did maintain that relations were still good between the churches and the state.
On 24th January Andry Rajoelina, on a brief return from France, said that he would resume his political ambitions in Madagascar later in the year to clean up the country, noting that a coup d’état would not be necessary as the HVM government would fall by itself.
Ahead of the African Union (AU) summit in Addis Ababa at the end of January a delegation visited Madagascar, led by the former Algerian foreign minister Lakhdar Brahimi, who said that the country had yet to establish the ‘responsibility pact’ that the HCC had proposed and that its position remained fragile. The summit itself expressed its encouragement at the progress made and a degree of greater stability. Rajaonarimampianina met the head of the United Nations, Ban Ki Moon, at the summit when they discussed recent elections, the need for stability in the country, the fight against corruption and respect for human rights.
On 1st February the President announced his twenty-one appointments to the Senate from a high number of applicants reaching some 400 who while not exclusively from his HVM party might be expected to support his programme. The list included just six women as well as two current ministers, a former prime minister in Roger Koro and a former head of the Senate under Didier Ratsiraka (and the HCC) in Honoré Rakotomanana, who was elected head of the chamber and therefore would assume the duties of the President of the country when Rajaonarimampianina could not. Six of the seven vice-presidents were from HVM. The new Senate was due to make its recommendations for various institutions such as the HCJ, the HCDDED and the HCC. However, the prime minister said the government did not propose recalling parliament for a special session for such nominations.
The Freedom Association, led by Lalatiana Rakotondrazafy and appealing to a younger group in part through the radio station Free FM, announced that it would become formally a political party, thus becoming the 191st recognised as such by the Ministry of the Interior.
The commemoration of the events of 7th February 2009, one of the worst in the coup that year, passed quietly; this year was potentially significant as both Ravalomanana and Rajoelina were for the first time present in the country. Colonel Charles Andrianasoavina repeated his claim that Rajoelina and René Lylison had been behind the events and the head of the army disciplined him for expressing a political view while still a serving officer; Ravalomanana denied any such responsibility.
A meeting in February between the prime minister Jean Ravelonarivo and ambassadors from the EU, which was held at the UK ambassador’s residence, discussed the next stages of the proposed 11th Fonds Européens de Développement (FED), decentralisation, the formation of the Haute Cour de Justice, the fight against illicit trafficking, the drought in the south and the business environment. Antonio Sanchez Benedito, the EU ambassador, said that there had been some effort but that challenges remained and that the EU was not 100% satisfied. The prime minister was reported to be absent from the next meeting in March which was a further indication of the split between him and the President.
An article in La Gazette on 15th February regretted the lack of progress in nominating any ambassadors for countries such as France, Germany, the US and the UK, which was attributed in part to the lack of suitable candidates. There have been no new appointments under the new President and the only ones in their post remain those in China, Canada and Senegal who were appointed by Ravalomanana. The prime minister left in February for another visit to Paris which his office said was not to do with his health but instead to hold a series of political and economic meetings.
There was a scandal in February when Pastor Rasendrahasina, one of whose deputies at the FJKM is Ravalomanana, was questioned over a visit to a massage parlour. Ravalomanana said that the unjust accusations had been orchestrated by the presidency. Rasendrahasina, however, apologised to his followers for visiting an inappropriate place while maintaining that his conscience was clear; he stepped aside pending a synod meeting in Antsirabe that will decide his future. In late March Ravalomanana declared he would stand for the presidential elections in 2018.
In March President Rajaonarimampianina made a four-day state visit to Mauritius where he was the chief guest of the government for the celebrations marking the 48th anniversary of its independence and 24th anniversary of the Republic of Mauritius.
In Transparency International’s annual review of corruption Madagascar scored 28/100 and was ranked 123rd out of the 168 countries evaluated, compared to 127th of 177 in 2013 and 133rd of 175 in 2014. Madagascar’s ranking was helped by seven countries that usually score poorly not being in the study. The head of the anti-corruption body BIANCO said that he wanted the country’s score, unchanged for three years, to move by 2025 to 50/100 compared to a current global average of 45/100; the amount in the budget allocated to fight corruption has increased from 0.1% to 0.5%. The US ambassador, Robert Yamate, noted with regret that arrests of those trafficking rosewood had been almost non-existent since 2013.
Amnesty International’s annual report on the state of human rights in the world indicated that there had been no improvement in Madagascar in the last two years. The organisation criticised extrajudicial killings during the campaign against cattle rustling as well as the harassment of journalists, students and militant ecologists.
Jean-Claude Razaraniaina, the director of SAMIFIN, bemoaned on his retirement the lack of judicial pursuit of financial concerns: only three of the 193 cases his team had submitted had been investigated, of which two had been suspended and in the third the culprit while indicted was still at liberty. He also complained that only fifteen of the 114 bank accounts they had blocked remained frozen, the others having been unfrozen without any inquiry.
Economic and social matters
Finance and aid
The International Monetary Fund visited Madagascar from 2nd to 11th March. Its representative, Marshall Mills, said that in 2016 economic growth could exceed 4% driven by a recovery in tourism and agriculture, improved public investment, as well as the renewal of an agreement under the African Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA) with the United States. Mills said that economic and financial conditions were improving and inflation had been contained below 8%. His confidence came in spite of a challenging external environment given weak commodity prices, adverse weather conditions and a difficult political environment. He did point out that losses in state-owned enterprises, particularly the water and electricity utility JIRAMA, remained a major concern and posed significant risks to the budget. Air Madagascar was reported to be sacking 400 of its 1400 employees as part of its effort under the new director Gilles Filiatreault to reduce substantial losses and debt.
The EU has divided a grant of €15m between a fixed amount of €11.5m and a variable amount of €1.5m as the country had not met targets on providing health and establishing the Haute Cour de Justice.
USAID reported in January that its survey in mid-2015 of 4,800 pupils in nine regions had found unsurprisingly perhaps that illiteracy had increased since the crisis in 2009 due to the low calibre of teachers and a lack of resources, for which it offered $700,000 of support. Paul Rabary, the Minister of Education, said that the country needed 3,000 new classrooms a year against which the state provided only 300 and its partners 250. In one brighter spot Malagasy students have been doing well in Chinese, with the Confucius Institute in the capital ranking among the best in the world; it now has 4,000 students in fifty centres.
The EU has divided a grant of €15m between a fixed amount of €11.5m and a variable amount of €1.5m as the country had not met targets on providing health and establishing the Haute Cour de Justice.
USAID reported in January that its survey in mid-2015 of 4,800 pupils in nine regions had found unsurprisingly perhaps that illiteracy had increased since the crisis in 2009 due to the low calibre of teachers and a lack of resources, for which it offered $700,000 of support. Paul Rabary, the Minister of Education, said that the country needed 3,000 new classrooms a year against which the state provided only 300 and its partners 250. In one brighter spot Malagasy students have been doing well in Chinese, with the Confucius Institute in the capital ranking among the best in the world; it now has 4,000 students in fifty centres.
Health
By early February there had been 68 deaths from pulmonary plague compared to 79 in the 2014/15 season. The crisis over non-clearance of household waste in Antananarivo increased concerns. Johanita Ndahimananjara, the Minister for Water and Health, called on Lalao Ravalomanana as mayor to take the necessary steps and later in January the prime minister also convened a meeting. A very small army contingent was made available in January. The Malagasy capital was ranked 218th out of 230 cities in the Mercer Index on quality of life. There is a Washington Post photographic article on the plague.
The Malagasy government will receive $70m over the next two years from the Global Fund to help to fund a campaign against malaria, which kills 300-600 people each year and of which there were 400,000 cases in 2014.
The government’s 2016 budget allocates 5.7% to health which is well short of the level of 15% agreed in Abuja in 2001. The World Food Programme said in early February that a lack of political will was the main reason that nearly half the population faced food insecurity given Madagascar’s resources, which were hampered by a poor transport infrastructure and an overreliance on rice.
The cyclone season has been modest although heavy rains in February in the north of the country have caused a number of deaths and caused considerable damage, as well as impacting the vanilla industry – prices have risen sharply as have thefts. A two-day conference the same month was an attempt to co-ordinate efforts to tackle the drought in the south of the country.
The Malagasy government will receive $70m over the next two years from the Global Fund to help to fund a campaign against malaria, which kills 300-600 people each year and of which there were 400,000 cases in 2014.
The government’s 2016 budget allocates 5.7% to health which is well short of the level of 15% agreed in Abuja in 2001. The World Food Programme said in early February that a lack of political will was the main reason that nearly half the population faced food insecurity given Madagascar’s resources, which were hampered by a poor transport infrastructure and an overreliance on rice.
The cyclone season has been modest although heavy rains in February in the north of the country have caused a number of deaths and caused considerable damage, as well as impacting the vanilla industry – prices have risen sharply as have thefts. A two-day conference the same month was an attempt to co-ordinate efforts to tackle the drought in the south of the country.
Business
In the first eleven months of 2015 Madagascar exported $37m of goods to the US under the Africa Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA) and was the fourth largest exporter of textile goods. Trade with China was said to have increased by 10% in 2015 following the abolition of duties on 97% of Madagascar’s goods. China takes 5% of the country’s exports and provides 16% of its imports (compared to 49% and 21% respectively for the EU).
Madagascar’s export of granite to La Réunion, shipped by COLAS to build a new coastal road, was suspended in mid-February following concerns over the environmental impact.
Madagascar’s export of granite to La Réunion, shipped by COLAS to build a new coastal road, was suspended in mid-February following concerns over the environmental impact.
Security
The Minister of Defence, General Rakotozafy, said in January that the army would be less involved in the campaign against cattle-rustlers and bandits, after it ran the operation known as Fahalemana from August to December 2015 in which 150 dahalo and 12 soldiers died. An enquiry into misdemeanours by the army in the Bongolava region ended in January with no conviction. The Gendarmerie reported that in 2015, outside of the Fahalemana campaign, it had killed 36 presumed dahalo and arrested 34 while also killing 35 other presumed criminals; there had also been 31 deaths in the year from summary justice. The banditry has continued in 2016, with fifteen people killed in a single incident in Ilakaka in February and eleven at Betroka in March. President Rajaonarimampianina said that the goal was to re-establish a state of law and to ensure the security of the state which remained in a fragile condition due to corruption, a lack of respect for the law and a lack of application of the law; he indicated that a further 750 police jobs would be created.
The incidence of ambushes on the main roads in Madagascar, said by the police to number three a week, was highlighted when bullets were fired at the ministerial car of Roland Ratsiraka, who happened to have taken a plane to return to the capital. While there were concerns that only 200 gendarmes were available to patrol the nation’s highways there were also complaints from the road transport association that there were 53 police check-points on the RN7 between the capital and Fianarantsoa, with suggestions of a 50,000 ariary ‘tip’ at each one. Toliara was reported in February to have descended into a spiral of violence.
There has been a protracted dispute and considerable controversy over the kidnapping of two children in Toliara in November 2015, in which a magistrate Jackie Rabehaja was implicated.
The incidence of ambushes on the main roads in Madagascar, said by the police to number three a week, was highlighted when bullets were fired at the ministerial car of Roland Ratsiraka, who happened to have taken a plane to return to the capital. While there were concerns that only 200 gendarmes were available to patrol the nation’s highways there were also complaints from the road transport association that there were 53 police check-points on the RN7 between the capital and Fianarantsoa, with suggestions of a 50,000 ariary ‘tip’ at each one. Toliara was reported in February to have descended into a spiral of violence.
There has been a protracted dispute and considerable controversy over the kidnapping of two children in Toliara in November 2015, in which a magistrate Jackie Rabehaja was implicated.
Tourism
The new operator Madagasikara Airways received its licence in January. It is due to serve the airports of Sambava, Antsiranana, Nosy Be, Mahajanga, Morondava, Toliara, Tolagnaro and Mananjary as well as foreign destinations although with only one aircraft initially. The South African company Airlink re-introduced Sunday flights between Johannesburg and Nosy Be from 20th March. Air Seychelles introduced a fourth Antananarivo flight which has been timed to connect to flights arriving in Seychelles from Abu Dhabi.
There was an armed attack by a large gang on a tourist resort on Nosy Be in February.
There was an armed attack by a large gang on a tourist resort on Nosy Be in February.
Minerals
Sherritt International announced in January that it had lost $1.7bn at the Ambatovy mine due to lower prices for nickel and cobalt ore. Sumitomo, which owns 32.5% of the operation, said it would record a ¥77 billion (£480m) impairment loss for the October-December 2015 quarter while Korea Resources, which leads a consortium that owns 27.5%, said it expected a $530m loss. In February Sherritt had its bank accounts suspended following a court’s decision to fine it 550m ariary (£120,000) for unethical behaviour in dealing with a licencee. The company was also caught out by a new system called Advanced Cargo Declaration, from which it considered itself exempt, and had its exports briefly blocked; it was given a temporary exemption while debate continued on the benefits to the country if any of the new system. In early March the government rescinded the levy while still saying it was committed to better security at its ports.
Madagascar Oil, which cut back on its limited initial production in September 2015, announced in February that it had failed to agree terms with a new strategic partner as intended in spite of holding discussions through Jeffries International with over 140 firms ranging from oil companies to private equity investors, a number of which were undertaking due diligence. Without further progress on the partnership the company’s lenders did not release a second tranche of $8m of funding and the company risked becoming insolvent. Some of the lenders, who are also shareholders, were ready to provide some finance but one condition was that the company would cancel its trading on the Alternative Investment Market (AIM), which was confirmed in early March when they provided $2m for shares at 1p. The company is due to delist from AIM on 8th April if there is a majority of 75% of those voting; the relevant lenders represent 60.5% of the company’s equity so it is expected to pass. The company had been awarded an environmental permit and held 150,000 barrels of heavy oil in storage but had not agreed terms with Symbion Power on a sale for use in the Mandroseza power plant. The shares had traded as high as 10p in 2015.
In March, following a decision in 2015, Madagascar liberalised gold exports having had only the government as an approved exporter since June 2012. The new mining code is still awaited; 500 mining permits were issued in 2015 and an estimated $650m pa has been lost to illicit mining, according to Richard Razafindrazaka, the president of the mining union.
Madagascar Oil, which cut back on its limited initial production in September 2015, announced in February that it had failed to agree terms with a new strategic partner as intended in spite of holding discussions through Jeffries International with over 140 firms ranging from oil companies to private equity investors, a number of which were undertaking due diligence. Without further progress on the partnership the company’s lenders did not release a second tranche of $8m of funding and the company risked becoming insolvent. Some of the lenders, who are also shareholders, were ready to provide some finance but one condition was that the company would cancel its trading on the Alternative Investment Market (AIM), which was confirmed in early March when they provided $2m for shares at 1p. The company is due to delist from AIM on 8th April if there is a majority of 75% of those voting; the relevant lenders represent 60.5% of the company’s equity so it is expected to pass. The company had been awarded an environmental permit and held 150,000 barrels of heavy oil in storage but had not agreed terms with Symbion Power on a sale for use in the Mandroseza power plant. The shares had traded as high as 10p in 2015.
In March, following a decision in 2015, Madagascar liberalised gold exports having had only the government as an approved exporter since June 2012. The new mining code is still awaited; 500 mining permits were issued in 2015 and an estimated $650m pa has been lost to illicit mining, according to Richard Razafindrazaka, the president of the mining union.
Wildlife and conservation
Forests
The trafficking of rosewood appears to continue. An individual who was implicated in the trade, Johnfrince Bekasy, jumped bail to escape the island; both Nicole Andrianarison, an adviser to the President, and Patrick Leloup who had advised Rajoelina were associated by rumour at least. Fidy Andriamananoro, the Director-General of Forests, was dismissed over a shipment of logs. The US ambassador bemoaned the fact that more people were in prison on charges of defamation of assumed traffickers than traffickers themselves. The High Court in Singapore overturned a decision in October that had acquitted the Chinese company Kong Hoo from a charge of illicit rosewood trade.
The Malagasy government failed to convince the permanent committee of CITES in January that it should be allowed to use the proceeds of the auction of rosewood logs to clean up its forestry ministry, given uncertainty on whether some of those involved and the risk of money laundering. Unless there is a greater commitment from the Malagasy authorities it is likely that the next CITES conference, in Johannesburg in September, will endorse an EU proposal for the total embargo of sales. Prime Minister Jean Ravelonarivo said on his return from the meeting that he had a clear conscience in the face of allegations of corruption.
The World Bank announced after COP21 that Madagascar would receive $90m to finance the reforestation of 35-40,000 hectares to help to combat global warming.
Scientists at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) suggested following analysis of stalagmites that a massive change in the forest area of Madagascar some 1,000 years ago made the land less fertile and indicated that human intervention then preceded more recent forest clearance. The research was published in the Quaternary Science Reviews.
The Malagasy government failed to convince the permanent committee of CITES in January that it should be allowed to use the proceeds of the auction of rosewood logs to clean up its forestry ministry, given uncertainty on whether some of those involved and the risk of money laundering. Unless there is a greater commitment from the Malagasy authorities it is likely that the next CITES conference, in Johannesburg in September, will endorse an EU proposal for the total embargo of sales. Prime Minister Jean Ravelonarivo said on his return from the meeting that he had a clear conscience in the face of allegations of corruption.
The World Bank announced after COP21 that Madagascar would receive $90m to finance the reforestation of 35-40,000 hectares to help to combat global warming.
Scientists at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) suggested following analysis of stalagmites that a massive change in the forest area of Madagascar some 1,000 years ago made the land less fertile and indicated that human intervention then preceded more recent forest clearance. The research was published in the Quaternary Science Reviews.
Fisheries
The Ministry of Fisheries introduced a ban in January on harvesting sea cucumbers around the island of Sainte-Marie following severe over-fishing which was blamed on illegal Chinese operators; their divers were said to have moved to Mahambo on the opposite bank.
|
Madagascar National Parcs (MNP), which manages 52 parks in the country, said that it was still difficult to find outside investors. Guy Ramangason, the Director-General, attributed the reluctance to fund tourist lodges to uncertainty following the political crisis although a number of overseas operators are said to be interested. MNP has anticipated $21m of annual revenue from such concessions which would represent 71% of its budget.
President Rajaonarimampianina attended a ceremony in Toamasina at which the World Bank donated four speedboats worth €0.8m to help Madagascar deal with wildlife trafficking. |
|