ANTANANARIVO — The soldiers who staged a mutiny over the weekend near Madagascar’s main airport were paid to take up the revolt, the head of security for the island’s capital said Wednesday.
They each received about $4 to $6 to wage the mutiny Sunday, Gen. Richard Ravalomanana said.
That would be a decent payout in a nation where 81 percent of the population lives on less than $1.25 a day.
Gen. Ravalomanana said authorities were still investigating to determine who was behind the attack, adding that they have questioned 130 people.
Three soldiers, including the leader of the Sunday mutiny, were killed when paramilitary police and loyalist troops retook the base.
One soldier told an opposition radio station that the mutiny was a coup, but no other public demands were made.
The incident came three days before Wednesday’s landmark talks between the island’s ruler Andry Rajoelina and the man he toppled in 2009, Marc Ravalomanana.
Lack of troops delays hunt for warlord Kony
KAMPALA — The head of a planned African Union force to hunt warlord Joseph Kony said Wednesday that he cannot start his task because he lacks troops, equipment and the necessary funding.
Ugandan Col. Dick Olum spoke to reporters from Yambio, South Sudan, as AU and U.N. officials gathered in Uganda to consider regional efforts to catch Kony and dismantle his infamous Lord's Resistance Army.
Col. Olum said the Kony hunt was still in the hands of some 2,000 Ugandan soldiers and 500 South Sudanese troops. The AU force, however, was meant to start operating in March with as many as 5,000 troops from Uganda, South Sudan, Congo and the Central African Republic — the countries affected by Kony’s rebellion over the past years. Funding for the mission, meant to come from the affected states and the international community, has yet to materialize, he added.
Kony was the first suspect to be indicted by the International Criminal Court on charges of war crimes and crimes against humanity in 2005. In March, the fugitive warlord became the subject of renewed international attention after U.S. charity Invisible Children released an online video aimed at raising awareness of crimes blamed on the rebels.
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