Madagascar nears brink of civil war

Six weeks of violent protests in which Madagascar’s elected president, Marc Ravalomanana, was forced to resign have pushed the huge island nation to the brink of civil war.

Daily protests to support or oppose the coup in what was a functioning democracy have grown and the number of people killed is nearing 100.

Alarmed by the deteriorating situation, leaders of the Southern African Development Community (SADC) this week suspended Madagascar’s membership in the regional bloc and threatened military action against the new leader, Andry Rajoelina, unless Mr. Ravalomanana is reinstated.

The broader African Union had taken similar action.

In Washington, the Millennium Challenge Corp. (MCC) announced Tuesday that it is placing a hold on a $110 million poverty reduction grant to Madagascar.

“This decision is made with deep regret,” said Rodney G. Bent, MCC’s acting chief executive.

Madagascar is the first country with which the MCC signed a compact after it was created by Congress in 2004. MCC is an agency designed to work with countries that are committed to good governance, the rule of law and democratic principles.

The SADC summit was held in Mbabane, the capital of nearby Swaziland, where the deposed president fled.

Mr. Ravalomanana’s presence in Swaziland drew crowds of protesters condemning the sanctuary provided to him. The United States and the European Union called the transfer of power a coup.

Stephen Hayes, president of the Corporate Council on Africa, a Washington-based trade group, likened the unraveling of the rule of Mr. Ravalomanana to a Greek tragedy, beginning as a hopeful era of democratic elections and descending to autocracy.

“There was the president-king who became blind to the hopes of his people and deaf to those who tried to tell him that the people were restive and he was in trouble,” Mr. Hayes wrote recently.

Mr. Hayes tried to warn the president during a visit to Antananarivo, the capital, but “he would not listen.”

Mr. Hayes, more in lamentation than in condemnation, noted that the president consolidated his monopoly over the dairy industry, the lifeblood of the rural nation, and was building “an empire of tourism.”

“The tipping point, however, was likely his plans to virtually give a massive amount of land to a foreign company” to grow food for export, he said.

Most of the Madagascar people depend on agriculture for their existence, Mr. Hayes said.

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