What this article fails to mention is that Mrs. Lalao Ravalomanana was promptly deported manu-militari when she returned to Madagascar on 27 July 2012. She and her daughter-in-law didn't even make it out of the airport.

A few days later SADC issued a communiqué which lends support to her deportation:

“5- MCO Troika has noted, with dismay, the surreptitious attempt by Mrs. Ravalomanana to enter Madagascar in contravention of the current engagements with the Troika and Government of Transition as the issue surrounding the return of H.E. Mr Ravalomanana and his family (including his wife) is still being negotiated and to be included as part of the final agreement started in the Seychelles” “6- The MCO further strongly condemns this action which is not in tandem with the letter and spirit of the current negotiations.” See http://www.news24.com/Africa/News/SADC-chides-Ravalomananas-wife-20120731.

The recent SADC statement on Madagascar (http://allafrica.com/stories/201212110963.html?viewall=1) and Marc Ravalomanana’s recent words to the effect that he will not be a candidate for president in 2013 (http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/12/12/madagascar-crisis-idUSL5E8NC7YP2 0121212), raise several questions related to the expulsion and potential return of Ms. Ravalomanana. 1. Is it OK now with SADC for Lalao Ravalomanana to return to her country? Or will SADC once again lend support to her expulsion should she try to return? 2. The recent SADC statement makes no mention of Lalao Ravalomanana or other family members of Marc Ravalomanana. Is it the “final agreement” referred to in the July communiqué or is something else required before SADC will support Lalao Ravalomanana’s return? 3. The tradition of Rajoelina’s security forces going after family members when they can’t get the person they are after and the SADC call for Marc Ravalomanana to be persuaded to not run for president suggest the question: was SADC support for Ms. Ravalomanana’s expulsion part of international efforts to persuade her husband to not run for president? If so, now that Marc Ravalomanana has agreed to not run, is it OK for his wife to return to her country? (For examples of Rajoelina’s security forces going after family members, Amnesty International described how Rajoelina’s security forces detained the wife of Radio Fahazavana director Didier Ravohangiharison for 2 days as a means of getting her husband to turn himself in for questioning; more recently, Amnesty International wrote that “Security forces have also extrajudicially executed suspects… including … the parents and wife of a high-profile suspect in Mahaly district”.) 4. For SADC do women have rights independent of their husbands? 5. Why has the UN been silent up until now concerning Lalao Ravalomanana’s expulsion considering that it violated her right to return to her country (Article 13 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights)?