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Opposition leader takes power in Madagascar
Wed Mar 18, 2009 2:55am EDT
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By Richard Lough
ANTANANARIVO (Reuters) - Madagascar's youthful opposition leader Andry Rajoelina sought to consolidate his grip on power on Wednesday after the military named him president in a move that flouted the Indian Ocean island's constitution.
President Marc Ravalomanana resigned on Tuesday, but analysts said he had effectively been given no option after the security forces backed his foe, a baby-faced former disc jockey who has led weeks of anti-government strikes and protests.
The nation's worst unrest in years killed at least 135 people, devastated a $390 million-a-year tourism sector and worried multinationals in its mining and oil industries.
The outcome was a slap in the face for the African Union (AU), which has censured recent violent transfers of power that damage the continent's reputation with investors.
Experts said donors may cut aid to the world's fourth largest island, but probably only in the short-term.
"With so many people below the poverty line I can't see the international community abandoning Madagascar in the long run, and (Rajoelina) knows this," Lydie Boka, of Paris-based risk group StrategieCo, told Reuters.
While military support was the crucial factor that put the opposition leader in the presidency, analysts say the sacked mayor of the capital also has the backing of exiled former president Didier Ratsiraka and his allies.
Some analysts said former colonial ruler France also gave him tacit support.
Rajoelina was feted by locals as he drove through the streets on Tuesday. The new president was seeking to re-open ministries in the capital Antananarivo on Wednesday that have stayed closed and barricaded during the crisis.
INVESTOR SENTIMENT
Ravalomanana's whereabouts were unclear, while Rajoelina supporters planned a big party in the city's May 13 square. They had accused Ravalomanana of losing touch with the majority of the population who eke out a living on less than $2 a day.
Rajoelina says his priority will be to address social needs in Madagascar, which lies off Africa's east coast and won independence from France in 1960.
Under Malagasy law, the head of parliament's upper house should have taken over after the president's resignation and organized an election within two months.
Instead, Rajoelina -- who at 34 is six years too young to be president under the constitution -- now heads a transitional government which has pledged to hold a poll within two years.
The AU had demanded the constitution be respected "scrupulously." But the fact the army refused to take over on Tuesday, as Ravalomanana had requested, means the AU may not brand the events a coup which would have meant suspension. Continued...
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