Dakar, Senegal — The two rival presidents of Madagascar met face to face on Wednesday, in an unprecedented peace gesture organised by the Senegalese president, Abdoulaye Wade, under the auspices of the Organisation of African Unity (OAU), in the Senegalese capital, Dakar.
That development, and news that disputed election results dating from last December have been formally annulled by the Supreme Court in Madagascar, have markedly changed the political landscape.
News of the two leaders' meeting came on Wednesday evening after a late night and a full day of diplomatic mediation by African leaders trying to end the strife in Madagascar, which many fear could mushroom into civil war.
President Wade, speaking shortly after the talks adjourned, early Thursday morning, confirmed that Madagascar's incumbent president, Didier Ratsiraka, and his challenger, Marc Ravalomanana, embraced when they met and said it was a pity that the press had not been there to witness the encounter.
The Senegalese president said he and the other mediators - the secretary-general of the OAU and the UN secretary-general's West Africa envoy - initially met the two men separately and heard their "positions, problems and proposals".
After that, he said, "we called them both to come in and meet us and we had several meetings with them. We set out an agreement and the two of them will review the latest version tonight." He said they would all meet again Thursday at 0900hrs.
Ravalomanana emerged from the talks just before 0200hrs local time and left, saying nothing to waiting journalists. Ratsiraka emerged some ten minutes later, and said he was "optimistic" about the talks.
Wednesday's encounter between the two men was the first since Madagascar was plunged into political crisis when Ravalomanana rejected the official results of December's presidential election, saying they were rigged. There followed weeks of peaceful demonstrations and strikes by Ravalomanana's supporters, culminating in his being 'sworn in' as president by a sympathetic Supreme Court judge in late February.
Both men flew to Dakar on Tuesday this week, at Wade's invitation, for the latest attempt at peace talks, seen as increasingly urgent as the stand-off became violent, involving clashes and killings by rival supporters.
The OAU had earlier twice tried and failed to broker a deal between the two parallel governments in Madagascar, prompting the Senegalese president to step in with a fresh initiative to end the power struggle in the troubled island nation.
Wade's spokesman, Cheikh Elvalide Seye, described the atmosphere during the discussions as "good" and "cordial".
That was also the view of Ibrahima Fall, a former Senegalese foreign minister, recently appointed UN Secretary General Kofi Annan's special representative in West Africa.
Wade predicted on Tuesday, before the start of a flurry of high-level diplomatic activity overnight, that getting Ratsiraka and Ravalomanana out of Madagascar and onto neutral territory in Senegal might prove productive.
"They'll be more at ease," said Wade, "where there is less pressure."
The Senegalese have said that the top priority, apart from getting the Malagasy 'presidents' to meet, talk peace and resolve their differences, is to staunch the violence and killings in Madagascar. All day Wednesday, African shuttle diplomacy was in evidence up and down the corridors of the sixth floor of Dakar's leading hotel.
Controversial Poll Result Annulled
Meanwhile, back in Madagascar, the Supreme Court in the capital, Antananarivo, has annulled the official results of the disputed December election.
The High Constitutional Court (HCC) confirmed the election results in late January, ultimately provoking Ravalomanana to have himself proclaimed president in February.
Ravalomanana's supporters maintain that the final totals of votes declared valid by the HCC, did not tally with results they collected from the polling stations. They believe the true results would have given Ravalomanana outright victory and say the HCC's decision that a second round run-off must take place was deliberately intended to favour Ratsiraka.
The Supreme Court's reported justification for annulling the results - that President Ratsiraka had changed six of the HCC's nine members just weeks before the ballot was held - will be seen by Ravalomanana's supporters as a vindication of their view.
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The upshot of the Court's decision is that a recount of the December vote may now take place. But there are concerns that some ballot papers may now be missing or destroyed, making this a politically risky course.
Observers speculate that Ravalomanana may now hope the HCC will agree to declare his December margin of victory sufficient to achieve outright victory, thereby confirming his position as Madagascar's legitimate president.
As he emerged from Wednesday's talks, Ratsiraka was asked by allAfrica.com about the decision to annul the election results. He asked, "who made that announcement?" Told that it was the Supreme Court in Antananarivo, Ratsiraka replied: "Really? No, they've never said that. You'll have to read the text again. I haven't heard that. I haven't heard that being spoken about."
His reaction suggested that news of the annulment may not have featured in Wednesday's discussions.
The election results issue seems likely to feature strongly in the remaining discussions between mediators and protagonists in the Senegalese capital, Dakar.
