SADEC conclude summit on Madagascar, Zimbabwe

Regional leaders conclude summit on Zimbabwe, Madagascar

By Joshua Howat Berger, Agence France-Presse  January 14, 2010 5:03 PM

MAPUTO - Key southern African leaders wound up a special summit in the Mozambican capital Maputo on Thursday with calls for a return to dialogue in the ongoing political crisis in Madagascar.

The security body of the 15-nation Southern African Development Community (SADC) condemned the lack of progress in implementing a power-sharing deal in Madagascar, even as its members praised the leaders' efforts to revive a stumbling unity government in Zimbabwe.

Following a closed-door meeting that included the presidents of the Democratic Republic of Congo, Mozambique, Namibia, South Africa and Zambia, SADC executive secretary Tomaz Salomao read a statement from the leaders urging Madagascar's Andry Rajoelina to return to the negotiating table with ousted president Marc Ravalomanana and two other former presidents.

"(The) summit urges all Malagasy (political parties) to return immediately to dialogue and show the necessary political will, leadership, flexibility, humility and balance to make concessions and reach a compromise . . . towards the restoration of constitutional normalcy in Madagascar," the statement said.

The leaders also condemned an attempt by Rajoelina, who seized power in March 2009 with military backing, to call parliamentary elections for March this year, effectively sidelining an August power-sharing deal with his rivals.

"(The) summit rejects any attempt to use democratic means, institutions and processes to legitimize governments that came to power through unconstitutional means," said the statement.

"(The) summit also rejects the unilateral plan of the 'de facto' government of Madagascar to 'reorganize' the transition and hold legislative elections in March 2010, and urges the international community to also reject it," it added.

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