Soldiers clash as leaders refuse to talk

At least one soldier was killed in northern Madagascar on Monday as troops loyal to President Marc Ravalomanana clashed with forces supporting former President Didier Ratsiraka. The running battles continued in the vanilla-producing north-eastern region after the town of Sambava was seized by Ravalomanana's forces over the weekend. Despite being under the control of Ratsiraka loyalists, news reports said that Sambava was singled out by Ravalomanana's forces because of the substantial support Ravalomanana received among voters during the 16 December presidential poll. But a political analyst in Antananarivo, Olivier Razanatsoa of the University of Madagascar, said: "Ratsiraka would be more inclined to retain control of more strategically important cities like Tamatave and Mahajanga. He will only concede the smaller, less critical towns." Razanatsoa added that Ratsiraka had not prepared the country's army "for such a crisis". "Even if he wanted to defend the entire country, he simply does not have the logistics to do so," he said. Last week an attempt by Ravalomanana's forces to take control of the airport in the country's second port city of Mahajanga was foiled by Ratsiraka's supporters. Ravalomanana's officials have repeatedly warned in recent weeks that they would use force to remove blockades imposed around their stronghold in the capital, Antananarivo. The BBC reported on Friday that Ravalomanana's supporters have said they would target Mahajanga before the country's main port, Tamatave. Ratsiraka has set up a rival administration in Tamatave, where his support is strongest. Earlier on Friday, thousands of Ratsiraka supporters marched through the street of Tamatave, demanding the release of their Prime Minister, Tantely Andrianarivoa, the BBC report said. Last week Ravalomanana's supporters raided Andrianarivoa's residence and detained him. Andrianarivoa has remained loyal to Ratsiraka throughout the protracted political crisis. The former PM's house arrest is one of the reasons Ratsiraka refused to attend renewed talks in Dakar, Senegal, this past weekend. A diplomatic source in Antananarivo told IRIN: "It has become a complicated game. There are a number of influential members of Ravalomanana's inner circle who believe that by keeping Andrianarivoa under house arrest they have more to bargain with before a new round of talks." The source added that Senegalese President Abdoulaye Wade was "prepared and waiting" for the two political rivals to begin fresh talks to resolve the crisis. Up until recently, Madagascar's army had remained neutral in the conflict. Last week soldiers loyal to Ravalomanana clashed with soldiers in Antananarivo staging a pay protest, the local newspaper Midi Madagasikara said. Madagascar's army has urged the rival leaders to resolve their increasingly violent power struggle in which 40 people are estimated to have been killed. With no outside threat and very limited funds, Madagascar only has about 13,000 soldiers and 8,000 military police. While the military police are reasonably equipped and trained, only a small fraction of the army is believed to be battle-ready. International diplomacy has made little headway with a proposal that the two sides set up a government of national unity to spend six months organising a fresh round of voting to decide the disputed presidency.