Anglo-Malagasy Society Newsletter 99: March 2018 |
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Society activities
The Society’s first meeting in 2018 will be on Wednesday 14th March in the evening when Timothy Smart, the former British ambassador to Madagascar, will give a talk from a personal perspective about his experiences from setting up the new British Embassy in Antananarivo in 2012 until the end of his five-year term in November last year.
The events later in the year will be on Wednesday 27th June in the evening and Saturday 27th October during the day.
Details of the events are on Facebook and 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 2018. 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].
The events later in the year will be on Wednesday 27th June in the evening and Saturday 27th October during the day.
Details of the events are on Facebook and 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 2018. 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 positioning for presidential elections due at the end of 2018 has been the dominant theme in the year to date.
First Andry Rajoelina and Marc Ravalomanana and then President Hery Rajaonarimampianina confirmed their intention to contest the election. Ravalomanana again insisted on his right to stand saying that the sentence in absentia imposed on him for events in 2009 had no authority and hinted at the troubles that might arise if he were blocked, as well as at a potential if unlikely alliance with Rajoelina. The Minister of Justice, Elise Rasolo, said the sentence was sound and there were expectations of an imminent arrest of the former president. He was named the man of the year for 2017 by African Leadership Magazine and collected his award in South Africa in February.
By mid-January the electoral commission CENI said it was about 453,000 short of its target of 10m voter inscriptions and at the end of the month, when the lists closed, the shortfall remained at 300,000. The commission later reported that it had eliminated 220,000 duplicated names and had only received $5m of the $12m it needed in funding.
In January the Conseil du Fampihavanana Malagasy (CFM) met first Didier Ratsiraka and then Marc Ravalomanana with proposals on the need for dialogue and some compromise ahead of the elections. On 21st January both Ravalomanana and the president attended a meeting of the Protestant church FJKM at the Mahamasina stadium to secure support; a later gathering of the FJKM in Tolagnaro was banned by the authorities. Ravalomanana encountered difficulties when arriving there as well as in Ambovombe to campaign in the Androy district, and his TIKO business faced further restrictions.
Claudine Razaimamonjy, the special adviser to the president arrested in March 2017 and who was meant to be in prison, was sighted at Ambalavao and Ivato in January. Another affair was that of Houcine Alfa, a Franco-Algerian who had worked as an adviser to the president before being imprisoned in June for three years for illegal hoarding of arms, attempted kidnapping, abuse of position and extortion. In early January he escaped from prison and slipped to Mayotte by boat before returning to France, where he alleged torture and the taking of bribes. The syndicate of Malagagy magistrates, the SMM, decided to press charges on the ministerial corruption alleged by Alfa while the Ministry of Justice laid a charge for defamation against Alfa, who appeared to have a chequered past. He laid his own charges at a Paris tribunal in February. There is a BBC report by Tim Healy.
President Rajaonarimampianina appointed a further fifty-eight generals in late January and said that they were due to help to improve rural security, while adding to the top-heavy structure of the army. On the fourth anniversary of his investiture the President on 24th January announced a plan called Fisandratana 2030 or Regeneration 2030, intended to create centres of growth between the capital and Antsirabe and to contribute to a rate of expansion over 10%. This was seen as something of a manoeuvre to frustrate Andry Rajoelina, who announced his own initiative on 28th January.
A delegation from the Organisation Internationale de la Francophonie met the president on 1st February.
In early February the prime minister, Olivier Mahafaly, announced plans to clean up the long list of political parties in the country, which numbered some 195 even after the eradication since 2011 of 154 of the 354 then in existence. On 6th February Benjamina Ramanantsoa, the minister for presidential projects, was appointed as interim prime minister when Mahafaly was said to be on an overseas mission, which appeared to be medical treatment in Réunion. He was back in position by the middle of the month when the government held a team-building event over two days, following which it announced two task forces to deal with insecurity and with inflation.
On 11th February Rajoelina returned to Madagascar, which would enable him to meet the six-month residency requirement; he said that it was time to talk and to act. He formally launched his Initiative Emergence Madagascar in a three-hour broadcast in which he said the population could not wait until 2030 to meet the challenges of insecurity, poverty, inflation and famine. He said his initiative was open to all and excused his contribution to the election of the president, whose tenure he judged as catastrophic. Rajoelina’s opponents criticised his plans as over-ambitious and potentially demagogic.
In mid-February CENI stressed the need for a new electoral law which it said should be in place by the end of March. A date was finally set as 26th February for the extraordinary session of parliament, which would consider such a law as well as other matters.
The proposed electoral law included various stipulations on campaign financing but imposed no limit on the amount candidates could spend. The list of candidates included Eliana Bezaza, the grand-daughter of the first president, Philibert Tsiranana, and Orlando Robimanana, a former Treasury director dismissed in 2015.
On 23rd February the Comité pour la Réconciliation Nationale (CRN) and the confederation of Malagasy churches, the FFKM, announced plans for national assizes in Fianarantsoa on 17-19th March to follow up on the resolutions made at a similar event in 2015.
In January Lala Razafitrimo Arisoa, foreign minister on Roger Kolo’s government, was appointed as ambassador to the United Nations, the third appointment after a long dearth of them following Alain Djacoba Tehindrazanarivelo at Addis Ababa the former minister of culture, Mialy Mireille Rakotomalala, to Tokyo. Chargés d’affaires were reported to be in place in eight of the seventeen countries where Madagascar has an embassy.
President Ram Nath Kovind of India will visit Madagascar on 14-15th March, the first such visit.
First Andry Rajoelina and Marc Ravalomanana and then President Hery Rajaonarimampianina confirmed their intention to contest the election. Ravalomanana again insisted on his right to stand saying that the sentence in absentia imposed on him for events in 2009 had no authority and hinted at the troubles that might arise if he were blocked, as well as at a potential if unlikely alliance with Rajoelina. The Minister of Justice, Elise Rasolo, said the sentence was sound and there were expectations of an imminent arrest of the former president. He was named the man of the year for 2017 by African Leadership Magazine and collected his award in South Africa in February.
By mid-January the electoral commission CENI said it was about 453,000 short of its target of 10m voter inscriptions and at the end of the month, when the lists closed, the shortfall remained at 300,000. The commission later reported that it had eliminated 220,000 duplicated names and had only received $5m of the $12m it needed in funding.
In January the Conseil du Fampihavanana Malagasy (CFM) met first Didier Ratsiraka and then Marc Ravalomanana with proposals on the need for dialogue and some compromise ahead of the elections. On 21st January both Ravalomanana and the president attended a meeting of the Protestant church FJKM at the Mahamasina stadium to secure support; a later gathering of the FJKM in Tolagnaro was banned by the authorities. Ravalomanana encountered difficulties when arriving there as well as in Ambovombe to campaign in the Androy district, and his TIKO business faced further restrictions.
Claudine Razaimamonjy, the special adviser to the president arrested in March 2017 and who was meant to be in prison, was sighted at Ambalavao and Ivato in January. Another affair was that of Houcine Alfa, a Franco-Algerian who had worked as an adviser to the president before being imprisoned in June for three years for illegal hoarding of arms, attempted kidnapping, abuse of position and extortion. In early January he escaped from prison and slipped to Mayotte by boat before returning to France, where he alleged torture and the taking of bribes. The syndicate of Malagagy magistrates, the SMM, decided to press charges on the ministerial corruption alleged by Alfa while the Ministry of Justice laid a charge for defamation against Alfa, who appeared to have a chequered past. He laid his own charges at a Paris tribunal in February. There is a BBC report by Tim Healy.
President Rajaonarimampianina appointed a further fifty-eight generals in late January and said that they were due to help to improve rural security, while adding to the top-heavy structure of the army. On the fourth anniversary of his investiture the President on 24th January announced a plan called Fisandratana 2030 or Regeneration 2030, intended to create centres of growth between the capital and Antsirabe and to contribute to a rate of expansion over 10%. This was seen as something of a manoeuvre to frustrate Andry Rajoelina, who announced his own initiative on 28th January.
A delegation from the Organisation Internationale de la Francophonie met the president on 1st February.
In early February the prime minister, Olivier Mahafaly, announced plans to clean up the long list of political parties in the country, which numbered some 195 even after the eradication since 2011 of 154 of the 354 then in existence. On 6th February Benjamina Ramanantsoa, the minister for presidential projects, was appointed as interim prime minister when Mahafaly was said to be on an overseas mission, which appeared to be medical treatment in Réunion. He was back in position by the middle of the month when the government held a team-building event over two days, following which it announced two task forces to deal with insecurity and with inflation.
On 11th February Rajoelina returned to Madagascar, which would enable him to meet the six-month residency requirement; he said that it was time to talk and to act. He formally launched his Initiative Emergence Madagascar in a three-hour broadcast in which he said the population could not wait until 2030 to meet the challenges of insecurity, poverty, inflation and famine. He said his initiative was open to all and excused his contribution to the election of the president, whose tenure he judged as catastrophic. Rajoelina’s opponents criticised his plans as over-ambitious and potentially demagogic.
In mid-February CENI stressed the need for a new electoral law which it said should be in place by the end of March. A date was finally set as 26th February for the extraordinary session of parliament, which would consider such a law as well as other matters.
The proposed electoral law included various stipulations on campaign financing but imposed no limit on the amount candidates could spend. The list of candidates included Eliana Bezaza, the grand-daughter of the first president, Philibert Tsiranana, and Orlando Robimanana, a former Treasury director dismissed in 2015.
On 23rd February the Comité pour la Réconciliation Nationale (CRN) and the confederation of Malagasy churches, the FFKM, announced plans for national assizes in Fianarantsoa on 17-19th March to follow up on the resolutions made at a similar event in 2015.
In January Lala Razafitrimo Arisoa, foreign minister on Roger Kolo’s government, was appointed as ambassador to the United Nations, the third appointment after a long dearth of them following Alain Djacoba Tehindrazanarivelo at Addis Ababa the former minister of culture, Mialy Mireille Rakotomalala, to Tokyo. Chargés d’affaires were reported to be in place in eight of the seventeen countries where Madagascar has an embassy.
President Ram Nath Kovind of India will visit Madagascar on 14-15th March, the first such visit.
Economic and social matters
Finance and aid
The rate of inflation in the country is expected to run at a similar rate in 2018 to the 8.3% in 2017, when the depreciation of the ariary was a contributing factor. The price of rice has stabilised in recent months but at a level half as high again as its five-year average.
The President’s regeneration plan Fisandratana 2030 was forecast to create five million jobs, to expand the economy threefold and to take Madagascar to a rank of 70th in terms of human development.
A thirty-year preferential loan from China was agreed in January to help fund a link road from the port of Taomasina to the RN2.
The International Fund for Agricultural Development granted Madagascar a loan and a donation of $53 million to improve food security and to improve the resilience of rural populations against the effects of climate change effects. The US government in February provided 1,670 tonnes of sorghum worth $4.3m to help to deal with the drought in the south and to help some 263,000 people.
In a project known as Rano Wash, initiated by USAID, $30m has been allocated to benefit 600,000 people in 250 communes over five years through improved access to water and sanitation. It will be managed by CARE and include Catholic Relief Services and WaterAid.
At the beginning of March the World Bank approved a $45m International Development Association credit to promote the financial inclusion of individuals and small enterprises in Madagascar; the Madagascar Financial Inclusion project will specifically target women and businesses owned by women.
The President’s regeneration plan Fisandratana 2030 was forecast to create five million jobs, to expand the economy threefold and to take Madagascar to a rank of 70th in terms of human development.
A thirty-year preferential loan from China was agreed in January to help fund a link road from the port of Taomasina to the RN2.
The International Fund for Agricultural Development granted Madagascar a loan and a donation of $53 million to improve food security and to improve the resilience of rural populations against the effects of climate change effects. The US government in February provided 1,670 tonnes of sorghum worth $4.3m to help to deal with the drought in the south and to help some 263,000 people.
In a project known as Rano Wash, initiated by USAID, $30m has been allocated to benefit 600,000 people in 250 communes over five years through improved access to water and sanitation. It will be managed by CARE and include Catholic Relief Services and WaterAid.
At the beginning of March the World Bank approved a $45m International Development Association credit to promote the financial inclusion of individuals and small enterprises in Madagascar; the Madagascar Financial Inclusion project will specifically target women and businesses owned by women.
Cyclone
Cyclone Ava in January caused 51 deaths and displaced some 20,000 people. Cyclone Dumazile threatened the country in early March.
Madagascar is seen as the country eighth most vulnerable to climate change and is estimated to suffer over $100m of damage annually. The African Development Bank provided $1.5m in February to fund a strategic plan to deal with the threat.
Madagascar is seen as the country eighth most vulnerable to climate change and is estimated to suffer over $100m of damage annually. The African Development Bank provided $1.5m in February to fund a strategic plan to deal with the threat.
Business
In 2017 the Economic Development Board of Madagascar (EDBM) approved the stat-up of fifteen companies who invested a total of $2.3m. It has a further eighteen projects at the study stage, worth $19.6m and set to create 8,500 jobs.
In January the Haute Cour Constitutionnelle (HCC) rejected the creation of proposed new special enterprise zones in Moramanga (for textile), Tolagnaro (wind parks) and Antsiranana (tourism) based on the cession by the state of too much control and revenue.
The Moroccan banking group Banque Centrale Populaire (BCP) agreed in February to buy the Malagasy operations of the French group BPCE in partnership with the Sipromad group.
In January the Haute Cour Constitutionnelle (HCC) rejected the creation of proposed new special enterprise zones in Moramanga (for textile), Tolagnaro (wind parks) and Antsiranana (tourism) based on the cession by the state of too much control and revenue.
The Moroccan banking group Banque Centrale Populaire (BCP) agreed in February to buy the Malagasy operations of the French group BPCE in partnership with the Sipromad group.
Health
During a visit in January the Director-General of the World Health Organisation (WHO), Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, said that the Malagasy government was again considering establishing a system of universal health care, which would be a major challenge given the lack of resources (a study indicated that only 28% of health centres had electricity, drinking water and sanitation). He also awarded President Rajaonarimampianina with a certificate recognising his work during the plague epidemic and spoke of the need for strategic investment to help to avoid future such outbreaks. Dr Gheybreyesus warned that the next outbreak might be on an even larger scale given the greater spread of the bacteria. Penny Mordaunt, the international development secretary, claimed a significant British role in subduing the epidemic.
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Madagascar remains one of five African countries vulnerable to leprosy with a reported 1,500-2,000 new cases in 2017 or about 1% of the world’s total of those infected. There is an AFP report on the Daily Mail website.
In 2017 there were 301 deaths reported from malaria out of an estimated 500,000 cases; the level of fatalities has reduced in recent years although the incidence has varied, falling in 2016 to 300,000 cases from 700,000 in 2015 before increasing again last year. The number of mothers dying in childbirth is estimated to have reached 400 per 100,000 which is down from a ratio of 478 in 2014 if still higher than the level of 239 (as of 2015) in developing countries, or indeed 12 in developed ones. |
Antananarivo was ranked by Forbes magazine in January (if based on data from 2008) as the third dirtiest city in the world, after Baku in Azerbaijan and Dhaka in Bangladesh. It had been ranked by WHO as 218th of the 500 most polluted cities in 2016.
The Mercy Ships hospital boat will return to Madagascar in 2020 and is expected to do even more than in 2106 when in ten months it carried out 10,000 medical and 40,000 dental treatments as well as training 1,400 people.
The Mercy Ships hospital boat will return to Madagascar in 2020 and is expected to do even more than in 2106 when in ten months it carried out 10,000 medical and 40,000 dental treatments as well as training 1,400 people.
Education
In the new school year the number of new assistant teachers under the FRAM programme was 4,000 compared to an annual target of 10,000 which was attributed to an emphasis on quality over quantity.
Agriculture
A report in January indicated that Madagascar would need to import 560,000 tonnes of rice in the 2017-18 season, given lower production and stocks, in addition to the 320,000 imported in April to October 2017. Harison Randriamanana, the minister for agriculture, promised in February that the country would be self-sufficient by 2020. A ReliefWeb report in March noted that while the northern half of Madagascar received above average rainfall during the 2017/2018 rainy season the southern half had seen a below average amount, particularly in the south-west, including the Tsiribihini Delta, an area that is a major food supplier and received only 55% of the typical average between October 2017 and February 2018. The south-west has also seen 5% of its maize fields affected by the fall armyworm Spodoptera frugiperda, an invasive variant of the species from South America which has been known in Africa since 2016 and in May prompted Ghana to declare a state of emergency.
Cyclone Ava caused damage in January to rice fields in the highlands; after the loss of much of the main season crops producers have struggled as the availability of young plants is limited following the low production last year.
Cyclone Ava caused damage in January to rice fields in the highlands; after the loss of much of the main season crops producers have struggled as the availability of young plants is limited following the low production last year.
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Vanilla prices remain high following greater demand from food companies and after the disruption from Cyclone Enawo in 2017, which affected production in Madagascar. A report in March indicated that production was expected to increase in Uganda, the fourth largest global producer (if with 100 tons p.a. as against 1,600 tons in Madagascar and 150-250 tones in Papua New Guinea and Indonesia), although the country also faces security issues as in Madagascar.
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Insecurity
The first months of the year saw continued incidents of bandit attacks, acts of retaliation and informal justice including the killing of a presumed thief by students on the campus of the university at Fiananrantsoa. The prime minister suggested that the opposition or even those in power were involved in the spate of kidnappings, to destabilise the government and to raise funds. One renowned dahalo chief, Revato, was killed in February; he was reported to have been a bandit for decades and to have been implicated in the deaths of up to ten gendarmes.
In March a combination of civil society, business and labour unions condemned the impact of the insecurity in the country and planned to work together to address it.
In March a combination of civil society, business and labour unions condemned the impact of the insecurity in the country and planned to work together to address it.
Prisons
In February Amnesty International called on the Malagasy authorities to deal with the serious over-crowding at the Tsiafahy high security prison, which it said had 988 inmates as of October 2017, three times its intended capacity. For the country as a whole its 82 prisons hold some 20,000 people, many still to face trial, or twice the estimated capacity. Amnesty also criticised the lack of access to lawyers.
The annual presidential pardon saw the release of 4,500 prisoners including seventeen at Tsiafahy.
The annual presidential pardon saw the release of 4,500 prisoners including seventeen at Tsiafahy.
Reports
The 2017-2018 report of the US World Justice Project, ranked Madagascar 98th of 113 countries, a decline of eight places.
In Transparency International’s annual index of corruption Madagascar fell ten places to 155th out of 188 countries, with a score of 24 points, two lower than in 2016, continuing the decline since 2012. The head of the anti-corruption agency, BIANCO, deplored the lack of political will to deal with the issue.
In Transparency International’s annual index of corruption Madagascar fell ten places to 155th out of 188 countries, with a score of 24 points, two lower than in 2016, continuing the decline since 2012. The head of the anti-corruption agency, BIANCO, deplored the lack of political will to deal with the issue.
Tourism
The full impact of the outbreak of plague is still not clear although Madagascar has received positive press as a destination. There was an article by Horatio Clare in the FT Weekend on the RN5.
As of January a private company Amétis took on the collection of visa fees for tourists arriving in Madagascar and is entitled to retain €7 euros of the €20 standard charge.
As of early February the works on the new international terminal at Ivato airport were said to be 25% complete. Ethiopian Airlines announced in late February plans to establish a thrice-weekly service to Nosy Be as of 27th March. As of 24th April Air Seychelles will suspend its flights to Paris and Anatnananarivo as part of a restructuring.
As of January a private company Amétis took on the collection of visa fees for tourists arriving in Madagascar and is entitled to retain €7 euros of the €20 standard charge.
As of early February the works on the new international terminal at Ivato airport were said to be 25% complete. Ethiopian Airlines announced in late February plans to establish a thrice-weekly service to Nosy Be as of 27th March. As of 24th April Air Seychelles will suspend its flights to Paris and Anatnananarivo as part of a restructuring.
Minerals
The Australian company BlackEarth Minerals, which raised capital and listed on the ASX in January, provided what were called encouraging details on its Maniry graphite project.
In February the Malagasy oil body OMNIS indicated that there was interest in forty of 100 exploration blocks under consideration. BP’s application to explore in sites off Mahajanga, Ampasindava and Cap Saint-André was approved. The Malagasy Minister of Mine did not attend the major conference African Mining Indaba in February.
In February the Malagasy oil body OMNIS indicated that there was interest in forty of 100 exploration blocks under consideration. BP’s application to explore in sites off Mahajanga, Ampasindava and Cap Saint-André was approved. The Malagasy Minister of Mine did not attend the major conference African Mining Indaba in February.
Wildlife and conservation
Forests and protected areas
A new sapphire rush was reported in January to be a threat to the Ankeniheny Zahamena corridor near the Didy protected area at Ambatondrazaka.
Twelve environmental activists, including Clovis Razafimalala and one posthumously, received awards of up to 2m ariary as a prize for courageous citizenship supported by the Friedrich-Ebert Stiftung.
Twelve environmental activists, including Clovis Razafimalala and one posthumously, received awards of up to 2m ariary as a prize for courageous citizenship supported by the Friedrich-Ebert Stiftung.
Species
The pressure on Madagascar’s radiated tortoises was apparent in January when a boat with 460 of the reptiles on board was seized off the coast of Morondava, while 126 were seized at Ivato airport from a Kenya Airways flight. There was a long article in The Guardian in February on the smuggling issues.
The Minister of the Environment, Johanita Ndahimananjara, spoke at a press conference in March on the arrest of a suspected smuggler after twelve lemurs were found dead in the Antavolobe Iaroka forest in the Andasibe district.
In a report in ZooKeys Hannah Wood and Nikolaj Scharff at the Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History identified eighteen further species of assassin (or pelican) spiders of the Eriauchenius and Madagascarchaea genera, taking the total to twenty-six.
The Minister of the Environment, Johanita Ndahimananjara, spoke at a press conference in March on the arrest of a suspected smuggler after twelve lemurs were found dead in the Antavolobe Iaroka forest in the Andasibe district.
In a report in ZooKeys Hannah Wood and Nikolaj Scharff at the Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History identified eighteen further species of assassin (or pelican) spiders of the Eriauchenius and Madagascarchaea genera, taking the total to twenty-six.
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A further species of lemur was described in January in a report in the Primate Conservation journal from the Henry Doorly Zoo and Acquarium. Cheirogaleus grovesi has been named after Dr. Colin Groves, a British-Australian biologist, and is also known as the Andringitra dwarf lemur or the Haute Matsiatra dwarf lemur.
There were reports in February that the Asian common toad Duttaphrynus melanostictus was becoming an increasing threat to Madagascar since its first arrival perhaps in 2008. An article in The Guardian linked the issue to the Ambatovy nickel mine (as one indication is that the toads came to the plant from Vietnam) as well as to the marbled crayfish (Procambarus virginalis) which has been crowding out Madagascar’s seven native crayfish. |
An article in Nature noted the work by Julia Jones, a conservation scientist at Bangor University, who led the team that first surveyed the spread of marbled crayfish in Madagascar after their discovery in 2007. There are more details on their website.
Events
At the 2018 Winter Olympics Mialitiana Clerc from Madagascar came 48th out of 58 finishers in the women's giant slalom, 19 seconds behind the winner, Mikaela Shiffrin of the USA. She was born in Antananarivo in November 2001 and was adopted at 18 months by a French couple; she now lives in the Haute-Savoie region.