Ravalomanana aims for unity government

President Marc Ravalomanana on Monday sought to form a government of national unity in a bid to end Madagascar's political crisis and win international acceptance. But analysts said success could depended on whether his arch rival Didier Ratsiraka, who left for France on Friday, would accept the reappointment of hardline Prime Minister Jacques Sylla. "I don't think Jacques Sylla is the kind of person that Ratsiraka had in mind to head a government of national reconciliation," a diplomatic source told IRIN. Ravalomanana dissolved his government on Sunday, in favour of a national reconciliation administration, one of the main points of an Organisation of African Unity (OAU) peace plan thrashed out at the end of talks with former president Ratsiraka in Senegal this month. "We must work towards national reconciliation," Ravalomanana told the AFP news agency on Sunday. "Everyone should get involved." Ravalomanana's outgoing administration, formed in May, contained just one person close to Ratsiraka. The OAU peace plan calls for legislative elections to be held before the end of the year and for a balanced transitional government. Reuters reported that Ravalomanana was studying an amnesty formula which would allow Ratsiraka to live in peace in Madagascar, and end the six-month-long leadership fight. Analysts said that Ravalomanana's decision to reappoint Sylla as prime minister was to an extent inevitable. Sylla, a former foreign minister, had overseen a successful military campaign against territory held by Ratsiraka's supporters. Ravalomanana not only owed him a debt of gratitude, but given the prime minister's popularity within the president's camp, "rejecting Sylla would not have been well received", the diplomatic source suggested. Although Ratsiraka's reaction to Sylla's reappointment would be important, analysts said that Ravalomanana's forces had made significant headway in its campaign. Ratsiraka, Madagascar's long-serving president who refused to accept his defeat in elections in December, still holds his headquarters in Tamatave and the northern province of Antsiranana. Meanwhile, the BBC reported that Ravalomanana's forces were involved in a looting spree at the weekend in the northwestern provincial capital of Mahanjanga. The trouble began when local residents attacked shops owned by the Indian community, accusing them of financing militia loyal to Ratsiraka.