Opposition figures stranded in Moz

By Richard Lough

Antananarivo - Madagascar's opposition leaders said on Wednesday they had been told their security could not be guaranteed if they returned home after agreeing in Mozambique to press ahead with a proposed unity government.

President Andry Rajoelina, who grabbed power in a March coup, has rejected the deal struck by his rivals in Maputo on the make-up of a new administration, denouncing the agreement as tantamount to a coup d'etat.

Former Mozambican President Joaquim Chissano mediated the negotiations, which Rajoelina boycotted.

On Wednesday, Chissano told Reuters that Rajoelina's government had stopped Malagasy planes from flying to Maputo to collect the opposition figures.

Among those stranded in the Mozambique capital are former President Albert Zafy and Prime Minister Eugene Mangalaza - who was appointed by Rajoelina under international pressure.

"We planned to try returning this morning, but we have been warned that our security cannot be guaranteed," Mamy Rakotoarivelo, who was named speaker of the transitional parliament last month, told Reuters by telephone from Maputo.

Rakotoarivelo is a close ally of former President Marc Ravalomanana, who was toppled by Rajoelina with the support of the military. Asked whether he feared arrest if he returned to Madagascar, Rakotoarivelo said: "We'll see."

Earlier this week, Zafy agreed on the sharing of senior cabinet posts and a timetable for setting up transitional institutions with Ravalomanana and another former Malagasy leader, Didier Ratsiraka - both of whom live in exile.

Chissano hailed the agreement as a step in the right direction.

But Rajoelina, a 35-year-old former disc jockey, reacted angrily, accusing his rivals of high treason and saying the deal was an attack on Madagascar's national sovereignty.

Political turmoil has rocked Madagascar for close to a year and African nations and donors say a unity government is imperative for the international community to re-engage with the diplomatically-isolated Indian Ocean island.

In a statement, the French government also said that it regretted the latest opposition deal and called on the international community to hammer out an agreement acceptable to all the parties as quickly as possible.

"(France) regrets that the resolutions signed by the three leaders in Maputo on December 8 diverge from the consensus-based model envisaged by the (earlier) accords," it said on Wednesday.

Some analysts say Rajoelina's decision to stay away from the latest round of negotiations had left him out in the cold.

The wealthy entrepreneur and former mayor of the capital Antananarivo has stoked fears of a military intervention, saying he would take "the necessary measures" in coming days.

In an interview with Reuters, Madagascar's army chief Colonel Andry Ndriarijoana said that arresting opposition politicians was not the army's business. But he conceded that the political environment was deteriorating.

"This (opposition deal) will worsen things. They are deadlocked. Each side is digging in their heels," he said. - Reuters