Martial law announced

Madagascan President Didier Ratsiraka on Thursday announced the imposition of martial law on the Indian Ocean island following violent clashes between his supporters and those of rival Marc Ravalomanana.

Ratsiraka's declaration of martial law, effective from Friday 1 March, means it is illegal for Ravalomanana's supporters, or anyone else, to hold protests and marches in the capital city of Antananarivo.

Ravalomanana contends he won enough of the vote (more than the 50 percent required by law) to be declared outright winner of the presidential poll on 12 December last year. He refused to participate in a court ordered run-off election and last week he declared himself president. This week he set about appointing his own cabinet.

This was preceded by failed attempts by the Organisation of African Unity and the United Nations to broker a negotiated settlement between the rivals.

President Ratsiraka has, apart from declaring a state of emergency, maintained a stony silence throughout. He broke on Thursday night, after nearly a week of violence related to the disputed election results. The military meanwhile declared their neutrality in the dispute and have not acted against supporters of either side.

Ratsiraka's declaration of martial law has raised the stakes in the contest for the presidency. There is now the prospect that the security forces could take action against Ravalomanana's supporters should they gather for their daily mass protests that have paralysed Antananarivo for weeks.

Madeleine Ramaholimihaso, who headed the consortium of civil society organisations that supervised the December poll, told IRIN Ratsiraka's declaration of martial law had left people anxious.

She said: "The situation will get worse ... because the martial law will begin Friday, that means the army can use weapons, that means that people from Friday will not be able to meet to protest in town.

"The difference between the state of emergency and martial law is that now the army can move in because its forbidden to have public protests. Ravalomanana's supporters decided to (protest) all night on Thursday. Now the army can intervene."

However, whether the army will abide by Ratsiraka's decree is uncertain. Ramaholimihaso said: "It's not sure whether the army will go along, there has been some officers saying they will not agree (to follow Ratsiraka) ... there may be a split in the army."

As to whether Ravalomanana is correct in his contention that he won an outright victory, Ramaholimihaso is not certain. "During the elections we (independent monitoring organisations) had to mention many irregularities. There had been many irregularities principally they came from the incumbent president."

"However, Ravalomanana says he reached 50 percent of the vote that means he was elected. I am not so sure, he was certainly in front but did he get 50 percent? I cannot say that it was sure (that Ravalomanana had 50 percent of the vote) ... Now we have no possibility to check."

She said the incumbent president had refused calls by independent monitors to further scrutinise the results. Instead the country's highest court accepted the official vote returns which gave Ravolamanana less than 50 percent of the vote and ordered a re-run.