Madagascar's Rajoelina takes office

Andry Rajoelina became Madagascar's acting president Wednesday and vowed to curb poverty on the island, a day after the army ended a months-long power struggle and swept him to power.

Speaking to 15,000 supporters in the capital Antananarivo, the 34-year-old was quick to assert his authority and promise to reverse some of the policies that sparked popular discontent with ousted president Marc Ravalomanana.

Foreign powers were non-committal, refraining from either legitimising Rajoelina's army-backed rise to power or describing it as a coup.

But Madagascar's constitutional high court confirmed Rajoelina as the acting president of the republic, according to a document obtained by AFP.

The court "proclaims that Mr. Andry Rajoelina exercises the attributions of the president of the Republic as stated by the provisions of the constitution," the document said.

In his first speech as acting president of the vast island nation, Rajoelina vowed to deliver on some of the main themes that drove his campaign to unseat Ravalomanana and pledged to make the fight against poverty his priority.

"I will do everything I can to ensure that Madagascans are lifted out of poverty," he said.

Rajoelina vowed to bring food prices down on the island, where three-quarters of the population live on less than two dollars a day, and also announced his decision to sell the ousted president's plane.

"For the good of the Madagascan people, I will sell Force One," he said, adding that the money would be used "to establish a hospital for the people's health, which is a higher priority."

Force One is a Boeing 737 that Ravalomanana recently purchased from Disney World for 60 million dollars and had become a symbol of the regime's greed in the eyes of many Madagascans.

One of his first tasks at the helm of the transitional authority he set up last month will be to fill the constitutional gap of his takeover, not least of which is an article which makes him six years too young to run for president.

Rajoelina has two years to organise fresh elections.

Relieved to witness the end of a three-month period of instability during which 100 people were killed, Madagascans appeared torn, some hoping Rajoelina can bring about change and others condemning a coup.

"Ravalomanana had to go because people were sick of his dictatorial style and contempt for the rest of other people's opinions," said Rija, a 29-year-old from Antananarivo.

"But yesterday's developments were realised through force," he added.

Rajoelina effectively took charge on Tuesday evening after the military rejected a plan laid out by the beleaguered Ravalomanana to hand over power to some of his allies in the military.

The 59-year-old Ravalomanana's resignation came hours after the army had blasted its way into his offices and let his arch rival Rajoelina take control.

Most of his family left when he lost control of the army last week.



Conservatory & Botanical Gardens. AP Photo/Las Vegas News Bureau, Brian Jones

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