Crisis alarms Madagascar press

Does 'President' Ravalomanana court disaster?

Madagascan papers have expressed alarm at the political crisis following opposition leader Marc Ravalomanana's decision to declare himself president.

The independent L'Express de Madagascar says that the "jubilation of local people was quickly dampened" when and the incumbent President, Didier Ratsiraka, imposed a state of emergency.

The Sword of Damocles is hanging over our heads. The press is under threat

Madagascar Tribune

And it expresses concern that the government could resort to "imposing an independent government in each province or instigating an ethnic war" on the multi-racial Indian Ocean island.

The paper notes that Mr Ravalomanana's move has given rise to some amusement locally.

"Many people are saying jokingly that Madagascar will finally develop now that it has two presidents."

But the situation is really no joking matter, it continues, urging the "two presidents" to "spare the country the consequences of potential inter-ethnic clashes".

Backward step?

The Madagascar Tribune says the decision to impose a state of emergency "constitutes a step backwards in terms of freedom and democracy".

Arrest rumours brought activists onto the streets

"The Sword of Damocles is hanging over our heads. The press is under threat," it declares, adding that the state of emergency will "plunge the nation into darkness".

And it blames the situation on the "obstinacy on the part of President Didier Ratsiraka's camp, which left the other party with no option but to make the extreme move".

"Marc Ravalomanana's move may have gone too far, but the situation would have been resolved by resuming talks... with representatives more inclined towards consensus," the paper believes.

It concludes by urging "enlightened people" to oppose the state of emergency, "which has all the characteristics of a doomed system of dictatorship".

Western countries are trampling underfoot the Madagascan people's deepest hopes for change

Midi Madagasikara

The Midi Madagasikara likewise believes that press censorship is imminent.

"The state of emergency decreed by Didier Ratsiraka gives him sweeping powers to act in any way he feels like for a renewable period of three months," it notes.

It calls on readers to "do their utmost in spreading the word so that this unjust government measure... is known to all across the world in an effort to overturn it once and for all".

West's disinterest?

Papers are also dismayed by the apparent lack of concern shown by the West.

The Midi Madagasikara criticises French, US and other Western diplomats who joined the Organisation of African Unity in condemning the unusual move taken by the opposition leader.

"Western countries are trampling underfoot the Madagascan people's deepest hopes for change," an editorial in the paper says.

The incumbent president is not without support

The Madagascar Tribune describes the confrontation in Madagascar as "a battle which the West has never understood or has never wanted to understand".

"Such a situation reduces us to the ranks of banana republics."

It says that "for outsiders, the troubles of this part of the continent do not matter".

"The outside world sees us as a group of poor, fragile states, when we are not the arena for bloody tribal conflicts, wedged in between the Arab world and the untypical South Africa.

"As far as they are concerned, we barely make an impression, especially since we hardly represent a threat in the world," it concludes.

BBC Monitoring, based in Caversham in southern England, selects and translates information from radio, television, press, news agencies and the Internet from 150 countries in more than 70 languages.