Didier Ratsiraka

Didier Ratsiraka (2011)

Didier Ignace Ratsiraka (born November 4, 1936 in Vatomandry , Atsinanana region , † March 28, 2021 in Antananarivo ) was President of Madagascar from 1975 to 1993 and from 1997 to 2002 .

biography

Ratsiraka was Foreign Minister under Gabriel Ramanantsoa from 1972 to 1975 . Also known as "Red Admiral known," he came in 1975 through a coup of the military to power, built a year later socialist government and founded the party Vanguard of the Malagasy Revolution (FNDR). In 1989 he changed the name of his party to Andry sy Rihana Enti-Manavotra an'i Madagasikara (AREMA; Pillar and Foundation for the Salvation of Madagascar). When he lost to Albert Zafy in the 1993 election , his autocratic endedGovernment. Zafy was removed from office in 1996 and Ratsiraka made his political comeback in the spring of 1997 when he won the presidential election for AREMA against Zafy and Prime Minister Norbert Ratsirahonana .

In the elections on December 16, 2001, the increasingly unpopular president lost very close to the charismatic entrepreneur and mayor of Antananarivo, Marc Ravalomanana . Ratsiraka did not want to accept the elections and previously manipulated the election results massively via the computer centers, the Ministry of the Interior and the Constitutional Court in order to hold a runoff election . The second round of voting was canceled because Ravalomanana was able to prove that he had received over 50% of the vote. Ratsiraka still refused to acknowledge his defeat and subsequently plunged Madagascar into civil war. By the end of February, Ravalomanana had control of the capital, Antananarivo , which has always been its base, but Ratsiraka controlled most of the provinces. Within a few months, Ravalomanana's army gained the upper hand and pushed the irregular troops of Ratsiraka further and further north of the island. - According to Midi Madagasikara , the country's largest newspaper, Ratsiraka had hired mercenaries from Mauritius, Sri Lanka, Algeria, Greece, Ukraine and France who came into the country via South Africa. With the help of the private military, Ratsiraka was then able to flee to France on July 5, 2002. From then on he lived in French exile in Neuilly-sur-Seine near Paris .

The political and legal reappraisal of the civil war of 2002 took years. Judgments were pronounced against 375 detainees. On August 6, 2003, Didier Ratsiraka was sentenced to ten years of forced labor in absentia. His daughter Sophie Ratsiraka was sentenced to five years in prison on December 30, 2003, followed by a 10-year residency ban in Madagascar. Political observers point out that “Sophie Ratsiraka was the 'real head' in a gray field of political and economic mafia, underworld and party in the Ratsiraka regime and made political claims to the presidency. Basically, by running for another term of office, your father was only supposed to build the bridge for your assumption of power in order to establish one of the “robbery dynasties” that are not uncommon in developing countries. "

Didier Ratsiraka received an amnesty in 2011 , while Marc Ravalomanana was in exile in South Africa and Andry Rajoelina led the transitional government. On November 24, 2011, he traveled to Madagascar for the first time from exile to “work together on a solution to the crisis”.

His nephew Roland Ratsiraka (* 1966), former mayor of the country's most important commercial port, Toamasina , ran for the 2006 and 2013 presidential elections in Madagascar and achieved 9 percent of the votes in the first ballot, with the third-best result in 2006 and the fourth-best result in 2013 obtained the presidency candidates. Roland Ratsiraka was Minister for Infrastructure (2014-2016) and Minister for Tourism (2014-2018). In the 2018 presidential election on November 7th, both the now 82-year-old Didier Ratsiraka (candidate No. 36) and Roland Ratsiraka (candidate No. 21) ran for election. Both received around 0.4% of the vote.

Web links

Commons : Didier Ratsiraka  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

1. ^ Madagascar: l'ancien président Didier Ratsiraka est mort. In: JeuneAfrique.com. March 28, 2021, accessed March 28, 2021 (French). 
2. ↑ Shaping Change - Strategies for Development and Transformation , Bertelsmann Stiftung (accessed on October 16, 2018)
3. ↑ Madagascar's army advances , taz.de, July 2, 2002 (accessed October 14, 2018)
4. ^ Krieg & Frieden GmbH. Soldiers of Fortune , jungle.world, August 14, 2002 (accessed October 14, 2018)
5. ↑ Afrika Jahrbuch 2003. Politics, economy and society in Africa south of the Sahara , editors: Rolf Hofmeier, Andreas Mehler , Springer VS, Wiesbaden (2004), p. 273ff
6. ↑ Reuters: FACTBOX-Madagascar's Ravalomanana, a fallen leader , reuters.com from June 3, 2009 (accessed October 15, 2018)
7. ↑ Madagascar prevents Ravalomanana from returning from exile , derstandard.at of January 21, 2012 (accessed October 15, 2018)
8. ↑ Malagasy ex-president returned from exile after nine years , swissinfo.ch, November 24, 2011 (accessed October 14, 2018)
9. ↑ L'ex-président malgache revient au pays après neuf ans d'exil , lemonde.fr of November 24, 2011 (accessed on October 14, 2018)
10. ↑ Afrika Jahrbuch 2003. Politics, Economy and Society in Sub-Saharan Africa , editors: Rolf Hofmeier, Andreas Mehler, Springer VS, Wiesbaden (2004), p. 272
11. ↑ DECRET N.2015 - 030 Portant nomination des membres du Gouvernement ( Memento of October 16, 2018 in the Internet Archive ), presidence.gov.mg of January 25, 2015
12. ↑ DÉCRET N ° 2016-265 portant nomination des membres du Gouvernement , presidence.gov.mg of April 15, 2016
13. ↑ Décision n ° 26-HCC / D3 du 22 août 2018 arrêtant la liste définitive des candidats au premier tour de l'élection présidentielle du 7 November 2018 , hcc.gov.mg of August 22, 2018 (accessed on October 18, 2018)