Maputo — The Southern African Development Community (SADC) on Saturday appointed former Mozambican President Joaquim Chissano as the organisation's mediator in its attempt to restore Madagascar to constitutional rule.

The decision came at an extraordinary summit of SADC heads of state and government held in Johannesburg, and chaired by South African President Jacob Zuma.

The final communiqué from the summit said the leaders "expressed serious concern at the deteriorating political situation in Madagascar mainly characterized by exacerbating hostility among the different political groups in Madagascar and noted the slow progress experienced so far in the dialogue among the parties".

Madagascar's current leader, Andry Rajoelina, seized power in a coup d'etat in January which deposed the democratically elected President. Marc Ravalomanana. Not content with shredding the Madagascan constitution, Rajoelina held a show trial at which Ravalomana was sentenced to four years imprisonment for alleged "abuse of power" - a sentence which cannot be put into effect because Ravalomana is currently in exile in South Africa.

Despite this unpromising background, SADC mandated Chissano "to lead and coordinate the all party dialogue in Madagascar". He will be assisted by "a high level team of mediators".

Although there is currently little sign of any dialogue in Madagascar, the statement urged the Malagasy people through their main political structures and representatives to be encouraged to take active ownership of the inclusive dialogue and refrain from any forms of exclusion". With the threat of imprisonment hanging over Ravalomanana, this dialogue cannot be held inside Madagascar. The summit thus accepted that a venue acceptable to all parties will have to be found somewhere else in the SADC region.

The summit called on all those involved "to commit themselves to peaceful negotiated settlement through dialogue and desist from any violent solutions and inflammatory statements which may jeopardize and undermine current efforts in bringing constitutional normalcy".

The statement made no mention of any possible use of military force to restore Ravalomanana to power.

Since he handed over to the current President, Armando Guebuza, in 2005, Chissano's services as a mediator have been in great demand. His latest diplomatic foray, in tandem with former Ghanaian President John Kufuor, was to defuse the pre-election tensions in Malawi.