
About 80 million years ago Madagascar settled into its spot in the Mozambique Channel, 79 997 500 years later (approximately…), people arrived, from SE Asia and not long after, form Mainland Africa. (Although the possibility of earlier civilisations is being investigated.)
Over time kingdoms flourished and Madagascar became an important link in the Western Indian Ocean trade routes, culminating in the almost countrywide Merina kingdom around 1800.
Europeans stumbled on it in the 1500s (and presumptuously named it), began trading with the Malagasy kingdoms – it also became a favourite hangout for pirates and slave traders – until the French decided to take it over at the end of the 1900s and banish the Merina monarchy.
60 Years later Madagascar became independent with Philibert Tsiranana becoming its first president. Because he maintained close ties with France and given preferential trading status, the economy grew. (Meaning that some people became richer…) However, because of those same ties, he was overthrown in 1972 as popular protest demanded true independence from France.
In 1975, Didier Ratsiraka stepped into the vacuum and would remain there – with only a brief interruption – until 2002. He enacted staunch Marxist policies – complete with little red book – but like most, promised power to the people, but delivered centralised decision making.
Marxist economic policies and aggressive nationalisation saw the economy flounder, hitting a crisis point in 1981/2. Internal unrest locally and the possibility of external funding lead to Ratsiraka liberalising and by 1992 he had instituted a multiparty ‘democracy’. In 1993, due to popular dissatisfaction, a new president, Albert Zafy was elected.
Not long after, Zafy was widely viewed to be incompetent and was impeached three years later, which was followed by a further three years of interim government and 1996 saw Ratsiraka return to power.
In 1999 an incredibly successful, self-made business man, Marc Ravolomanana become mayor of Antananarivo and gained huge popularity – enough to take the top spot away from Ratsiraka in the 2001 elections. A glowing moment for democracy, followed by eight months of severe political unrest as Ratsiraka’s supporters tried to barricade the capital and the seat of Ravolomanana’s power, which lead to a collapse of the tourism industry and the destruction of massive amounts of infrastructure.
Late in 2002 the Ravolomanana government was locally and internationally recognised and the country stabilised and the economy grew. However the 2002 election and the disruptions around it – which, depending on who you speak to may have been a coup attempt or simply a suggestion by army generals that Ravolomanana step down – showed that the general population was not receiving much benefit from this growth. Much was rumoured to simply be enriching TIKO, Ravolomanana’s company, and the inevitable few elites around the country.
In 2009, the mayor of Antananarivo, Andry Rajoelina, started gaining popular support on the back of an ongoing lack of improvement of the majority of people’s lives and a few bad moves on the part of Ravolomanana, including an ill-timed purchase of a jumbo jet and an attempt to sell scarce agricultural land to South Korea. In January and February, Rajoelina’s supporters took to the streets of the capital and during one protest more than 100 people were killed by Ravolomanana’s private guards. By mid-March Ravolomanana had stepped down, with power first passing to the generals, then to Rajoelina and currently, to a tentative and much argued and altered interim government made up of representatives from each of the four past presidents’ parties with an eye on an election mid 2010.
The most recent meeting to be held in Maputo, to discuss the ministerial posts which are supposed to be distributed, six posts each, between the four members of the transition government, was boycotted by Rajoelina. The three remaining ex-presidents went ahead under the mediation of the former Mozambican president, Joaquim Chissano. After they proceeded to make all the necessary distributions of posts, Rajoelina released various statements accusing them variously of attempting a coup (…!), high treason and an attack on national sovereignty…
Very few people are optimistic about a smooth election next year and an easy transition back to a popularly elected government.
Next week, How politics and the environment have played bedfellows over the past 20 years…