History of Madagascar

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The historical records of Madagascar begin with the 7th century, at that time the Arabs established the first trading bases on the northwest coast. However, it is very likely that the first Malagasy settlers came from Southeast Asia , which explains the ethnic characteristics, a mixture of Austronesian Asians and African , as well as later Arab, Indian and European influences. British and French imperialists competed for Madagascar from the 17th to the 20th centuries until the island became a French colony in 1890. Madagascar gained independence from France in 1960.

Early history

Map of the Melanesian migration, the westernmost branch of which was Madagascar

According to the Malagasy mythology, the African island was first inhabited by a light-skinned "dwarf people", the Vazimba. Some Madagascans believe that these indigenous people still live in the deep forest. On the island, whose inhabitants practice the ancestral cult , the Vazimba are venerated as the oldest ancestors. The kings of some Malagasy Fokos claim to be directly related to the Vazimba.

Archaeologists assume that people will arrive on the island between 200 and 500 AD. According to this, the first inhabitants of Madagascar were seafarers from Southeast Asia, probably Borneo or South Celebes in their outrigger canoes. These original Madagascans populated the island in the course of the great Austronesian expansion that led to the colonization of the Malay Archipelago , New Zealand , Polynesia and Micronesia . No evidence has been found of the arrival of Indonesians who colonized the east coast of Africa. It seems that the first inhabitants of Madagascar came from Indonesia directly across the Indian Ocean : a journey of 5000 km by entrusting themselves to the wind and the east-west equatorial current. Together with New Zealand, Madagascar formed the last human-inhabited land area. The ethnologist Jared Diamond describes the Austronesian expansion into Madagascar:

“These Austronesians with their Austronesian language and modified Austronesian culture were already living in Madagascar when the island was visited by Europeans in 1500. This strikes me as the most amazing fact of the world's human geography. It is as if Columbus had found the island with blond, blue-eyed Swedish- speaking Scandinavians when landing in Cuba , although the nearby North American continent is inhabited by Native American Indians. How is it possible that people of the prehistoric culture of Borneo could reach Madagascar on boats without a map or compass? "

In technology and agriculture, the Madagascans share many characteristics with the Indonesians. The methods of rice processing are similar. Like the Indonesians, the Madagascans use outrigger canoes ( catamarans ). Both cultures practice the ancestor cult and believe that the dead have an impact on the living. Unlike their neighbors on the African continent, who prefer round huts, the Madagascans live in square residential buildings. They used two-flap bellows, a Malaysian invention, to forge iron. They dressed in cloth spun from plant fibers or raffia , not in leather, fur or wool like Africans or Europeans. Members of the Merina , the largest Foko in Madagascar, look very much like the Indonesians.

Immigration of the Bantu and Arabs

Whether the medieval Arab sailors and geographers knew Madagascar was a matter of dispute for a long time. However, the excavations in Mahilaka made it possible to occupy a trading town with mosques and stone buildings that flourished from the tenth to the 14th centuries. The island opposite the south coast of Ophir (Africa) was known as Phebol, Cernea, Menuthias, Medruthis, Sherbezat, Camarcada or Moon Island .

The name Madagascar comes from Marco Polo , the Italian researcher who described an African island of unspeakable wealth as Madeigascar . Marco Polo had learned about the existence of the island indirectly from stories during his travels in Asia. Most scholars assume that he probably described Mogadishu , the port of what is now Somalia . Nevertheless, the Italian cartographers of the Renaissance used the name Madagascar for the island.

The Bantu settlers probably crossed the road from Mozambique to Madagascar, roughly during or shortly after the arrival of the Indonesians. Although the majority of words in the Malagasy language are of Malay-Polynesian origin, some come from Bantu such as omby (beef), ondry (sheep) and others. Some ethnologists see this as proof that Indonesian and Bantu settlers soon intermingled in the island's history.

The Bantu brought with them the pumpkin resonator musical bow jejolava and several tumbler drums, including the large ritual drum bekiviro . The multi-string bamboo tubular zither valiha , which is characteristic of Malagasy music, comes from the Malay Islands. The Bantu also introduced a cultural feature unique to East Africa: cattle ownership. Especially in the southern savannas of Madagascar, where the African influences are strongest, wealth and social status are measured by the ownership of livestock; the number of zebus exceeds that of the population by two to three times.

At the beginning of the 10th or 11th century, Arab and Zanzibarian slave traders frequented their dhows along the African east coast and settled on the west coast of Madagascar. Their current descendants are the Foko Antaimoro on the southeast coast near Manakara . The Arab immigrants formed a minority compared to the Indonesians and the Bantu, but exerted an even more lasting influence: The Malagasy names for seasons, months, days and coins are of Arabic origin, as is circumcision , the common grain supply and various forms of greeting. Arab medicine men, called ombiasy , established themselves as judges in numerous Malagasy royalty. Arab immigrants introduced a patriarchal family and clan system in Madagascar. Previously, the Madagascar had practiced the Polynesian matriarchal system, in which rights, privileges and property were allotted equally to men and women.

European colonization

By the 15th century, the Europeans had wrested the spice trade from the Muslims. Before that it ran across the Middle East directly from India to the Mediterranean. After their cargo ships rounded the Cape of Good Hope, the spice trade went from India directly to Portugal. The Portuguese sailor Diogo Dias was the first European to set foot on Malagasy soil in 1500 when his ship got off course on its way to India. For the next two hundred years, the English and French strove unsuccessfully to rule the island.

Map of Fort Dauphin around 1650

Fever , dysentery , the hostile Malagasy population and the harsh, dry climate of southern Madagascar put an early end to the English settlement near Toliary (Tuléar) in 1646 . Another settlement in the north in Nosy Be was abandoned in 1649. The French colony near Taolañaro (Fort Dauphin), which had existed in the south of the island since 1643 , lasted longer. After 30 years of existence, there were riots among the local Antanosy at Christmas 1672 . They were evidently upset because fourteen French soldiers from the fort divorced their Malagasy wives to marry fourteen French women posted to the colony, and they massacred thirteen of the fourteen brides. The Antanosy besieged the Taolañaro palisades for eighteen months. A ship of the French-East India Company evacuated the surviving thirty men and a widow to the island of Réunion in 1674 .

The French still owned a trading post in the Baie d'Antongil in the north of the island until 1736 , and in 1750 they moved to the island of Sainte Marie . During the reign of the French King Louis XV. In 1766 they took possession of Fort Dauphin again, but gave it up again in 1771. In French service, the adventurer Moritz Benjowski conquered the Atongil Bay again in 1774 and founded Louisbourg. However, an independent kingdom he founded was destroyed by the French from Réunion in 1776. Benjowski was now looking for allies in Europe and in 1783 even offered Madagascar as an Austrian colony to Emperor Josef II , without receiving any financial or military support. In 1785 he returned to Madagascar and tried to rebuild his kingdom, but fell in 1786 fighting French troops and their Malagasy allies.

From 1807 to 1811, Toamasina was a French trading post that was destroyed by the British.

Pirates and slavers

Madagascar was a pirate base between 1680 and 1725. Well-known pirates such as Captain William Kidd , Henry Every , John Bowen and Thomas Tew made Antongil Bay and Sainte Marie (Nosy Boraha), a small island 15 km off the northeast coast of Madagascar, their base. The pirates plundered merchant ships in the Indian Ocean , the Red Sea and the Persian Gulf . They robbed the merchant ships loaded for Europe with their silk, cloth, spice and jewelery freight. Ships going in the opposite direction to India were robbed for their coins, as well as gold and silver treasures. The pirates' targets were the Indian cargo ships sailing between the ports of the Indian Ocean and the merchant ships of the East India companies commissioned by France, England and the Netherlands . The fleet of pilgrims sailing between Surat in India and Mocha at the tip of the Arabian Peninsula was a favorite destination for pirates because the wealthy Muslim pilgrims often carried jewels and other gems with them to Mecca.

The Indian merchants of the different ports of Africa and Réunion were trying to curb the theft of the goods by the pirates. However, the low-paid crews of the merchant ships in the Indian Ocean could hardly be induced to fight and saw little reason to risk their lives. The pirates often recruited other allies from the crew of the looted ships.

Before the arrival of the Europeans, the Malagasy Fokos fought occasional wars to capture slaves. The slaves were either sold to Arab traders or kept in service. With the arrival of the European slave traders , the value of human trade increased and with it the number of wars of the Malagasy coastal focus on slave capture. Instead of skewers and machetes, the locals used muskets, powder and lead, which they received from Europeans. The warfare was cruel and brutal.

Because of their ties to the pirates on Nosy Boraha, the Betsimisaraka in eastern Madagascar had more firearms than any other Fokos. They overpowered neighboring Antakarana and Tsimihety and even invaded the Comoros . The Sakalava had most of the slave trade ties on the west coast, which also gave them access to guns and powder. They defeated the other groups on the west coast. Chiefs who did not take prisoners for the slave trade sometimes sold their own people into slavery.

In the far north of Madagascar, the Sultanate of Zanzibar had a few branches, but Sultan Said ibn Sultan tried in vain to establish closer contacts with Queen Ranavalona I in order to gain more influence on the island.

Pirate Republic of Libertalia

In the second volume of his General History of the Pyrates , Charles Johnson tells the story of a certain Captain Misson and his friends in 1728 . According to Johnson's story, they had established a utopian republic in Madagascar , which was called Libertalia or Libertatia and was to be based on the ideals of freedom, equality and brotherhood . The pirates of Libertalia should be vigilant guardians of the rights and freedoms of the peoples , as well as a protective wall against the rich and powerful of their time. By going to war against the oppressors for the sake of the oppressed, they wanted to ensure that justice was distributed equally. In terms of self-government, Misson's pirates allegedly oriented themselves towards a democratic form in which the people themselves were the authors and judges of their own laws. They rejected the monarchy , then the predominant form of government. Wounded pirates were cared for, captured slaves were freed, and there was universal freedom of religion.

Perhaps the story of Libertalia has no historical core, but only represents a political essay disguised as a pirate story , as the historian Christopher Hill thinks. The Pirate Museum of Antananarivo, however, assumes the actual existence of the pirate republic.

The Merina monarchy

In the central highlands of Madagascar the kingdom of the Merina , a rice-growing people of Malay origin, had lived in relative isolation from the rest of Madagascar for several centuries; In 1824, however, Merina conquered almost all of Madagascar thanks to the leadership of two sophisticated kings, Andrianampoinimerina (approx. 1745-1810) and his son Radama I (1792-1828).

Andrianampoinimerina created the empire of the Merina through marriage policy or through the military subjugation of other groups. He made Antananarivo the capital of Madagascar and built the royal palace rova on a mountain peak overlooking the city. The ambitious king proclaimed Ny ranomasina no valapariako (“the sea is the border of my rice field”). Andrianampoinimerina stood out from other ambitious kings and chiefs for its administrative ability. The king passed laws and supervised the construction of dams and ditches to reclaim more land around Antananarivo. He introduced the metal spade and forced the rice farmers to use it. King Andrianampoinimerina was an exemplary military commander. By his death in 1810 he had conquered the peoples of the Bara and the Betsileo Highlands and was preparing to extend the borders of his kingdom to the shores of the island.

His son Radama I (Radama the Great) took over the government during a crucial event in European history that had repercussions on Madagascar. With the defeat of Napoleon I , the balance between the European powers and its colonies shifted in favor of Great Britain. Britain sought power over the trade routes in the Indian Ocean and occupied Réunion and Mauritius . Mauritius remained a base for the expansion of the British Empire. The governor of Mauritius urged the French government to recognize Radama I as King of Madagascar, a diplomatic maneuver with which he wanted to make the island sovereign and consequently lift it out of all claims of European powers.

Radama I. signed treaties with Great Britain outlawing the slave trade and admitting Protestant missionaries to Madagascar. In return for banning the slave trade, Madagascar received the annual sum of a thousand dollars in gold, another thousand in silver, a fixed amount of gunpowder, rifles and muskets, and 400 discarded British army uniforms. The governor of Mauritius also dispatched military advisers who at times led Merina soldiers to war against the Sakalava and Betsimisaraka . After defeating the Betsimisaraka in 1824, Radama declared: “Today I own the entire island! Madagascar has a regent! ”The king died in 1828 as the leader of his army during a punitive expedition against the Betsimisaraka.

The 33-year reign of Queen Ranavalona I (Ranavalona the Cruel), widow of Radama I, began ominously when the queen murdered the heirs and relatives of the dead king. The nobles and medicine men, who had lost their influence under the liberal regime of the previous two Merina kings, came back to power. The Queen rejected Radama's treaties with Great Britain. The recovery from a serious illness in 1835 she wrote her twelve Sampy to -Talismanen that endowed with supernatural powers lived under the palace. To appease this sampy, she passed a decree in which she banned the practice of Christianity in Madagascar, had the British missionaries expelled from the island and persecuted those who converted to Christianity. Christian customs are "not the customs of our ancestors," she explained. The Queen reversed the legal reforms of King Andrianampoinimerina, for which she applied the divine judgment . Suspicious criminals - mostly followers of Christianity - had to drink the poison from the Tangena tree. If they survived God's judgment, which rarely happened, they were considered innocent. Malagasy Christians refer to this period as tany maizina, "the time when the land was in darkness." An estimated 150,000 Christians died during the reign of Ranavalona the Cruel. The island became isolated and trade with other nations stalled.

Meanwhile, the queen's son and heir, Crown Prince Radama II , grew up secretly influenced by Roman Catholics. The contact with French citizens in Antananarivo led him to write a letter to Napoléon III in 1854 . and move France to invade Madagascar. On June 28, 1855, he signed the Lambert Charter . This document gave Joseph-François Lambert , an enterprising French businessman who had arrived in Madagascar three weeks earlier, the exclusive right to exploit all minerals, forests and unoccupied lands in Madagascar for a 10% royalty to the Merina monarchy. In the following years the Lambert Charter and the Prince's letter to Napoléon III served the French to justify the Franco-Hova wars and the annexation of Madagascar as a French colony. In 1857 the queen uncovered a conspiracy by her son Radama II and a French citizen against her in the capital. They immediately expelled all foreigners from Madagascar. Ranavalona the Cruel died in 1861.

In his short two-year reign, King Radama II resumed trade with Mauritius and Réunion, invited the Christian missionaries and foreigners to return to Madagascar, and reinstated most of Radama I's reforms. However, his liberal policies prompted the disgruntled nobility to carry out a coup d'état carried out by Prime Minister Rainivoninahitriniony . Just as cunning as his brother Rainilaiarivony , he secured influence on the affairs of government in Madagascar for the remaining 32 years of the Merina monarchy. Rainivoninahitriniony first married, later his brother, Queen Rasoaherina, the widow of Radama II. Rainilaiarivory also married the last two queens of Madagascar, Ranavalona II and Ranavalona III.

In 1869, Queen Ranavalona II , who had been educated by the London Missionary Society , was baptized Anglican; this denomination later became the state religion of Madagascar. The queen had all sampies burned in public. Numerous Catholic and Protestant missionaries came to build churches and schools. The reign of Queen Ranavalona II was the heyday of British influence in Madagascar. In parts of the island, English replaced French as a second language. Cup (mug), carpet (carpet) and other English words invaded the Malagasy language. British military reached the island via South Africa.

In order to reinstate the Lambert Charter and to regain the confiscated property of French citizens, France invaded Madagascar in the Franco-Hova War in 1883 ( Hova was a noble Merina). At the end of the war Madagascar left Antsiranana (Diégo Suarez) on the north coast of France and paid 560,000 gold francs to the heirs of Joseph-François Lambert. In the meantime, diplomats worked out an agreement on the division of Africa in Europe, according to which Great Britain renounced its claim to Heligoland in favor of Germany and all claims to Madagascar in favor of France in order to preserve the Sultanate of Zanzibar . This agreement sealed Madagascar's fate. Prime Minister Rainilaiarivory had successfully pitted Britain and France against each other, but now France could intervene without fear of reprisals from Britain. In 1895 a French column landed in Mahajanga (Majunga) and marched across the Betsiboka River to the capital Antananarivo, which was captured in a surprise attack. The attack was expected from the much closer east coast. 20 French soldiers died in combat and 6,000 from malaria and other diseases before the Second Franco-Hova War ended. In 1896 the French parliament voted for an annexation of Madagascar. After 103 years, the Merina monarchy ended and the royal family emigrated to Algeria.

French rule

Postage stamp from the colonial era. Is shown Jean Laborde .

The British accepted the establishment of a French protectorate in 1890 in return for final rule over Zanzibar (now part of Tanzania ) and as part of a general definition of the spheres of influence in the area. The absolute French rule over Madagascar was established by military force in 1895–1896 and the Merina monarchy was abolished.

Made Malagasy troops fought during the First World War in France , Morocco and Syria . After the German occupation of France in 1940, Madagascar was under first the Vichy government , in 1942 the British, whose troops the strategically important island in the operation Ironclad occupied to penetrate Japan to prevent. The Free French took over the island from Great Britain in 1943 .

According to the Loi Lamine Guèye of 1946, all citizens had the right to vote in elections to the French parliament and also in local elections. It was a two-tier voting system that gave citizens of French origin advantages. The right to stand as a candidate was not specifically mentioned in the law, but it was not excluded either.

independence

In 1947, French prestige fell to a low point, and after a year of bitter fighting, a national uprising was crushed in which 80,000 Madagascans were killed. The French reformed the institutions under the loi-cadre Defferre in 1956 , and Madagascar embarked on a peaceful path to independence. With the loi-cadre Defferre , active and passive universal suffrage was achieved, including women's suffrage .

The Republic of Madagascar was declared an autonomous state within the French community on October 14, 1958 . The provisional government ended in 1959 with the adoption of a constitution; full independence was achieved on June 26, 1960 with Philibert Tsiranana as president.

Tsiranana's government was in continuity with the policy of the French settlers (or "colonists"), who were still in positions of power, and, unlike many former French colonies, took an anti-communist course. In 1972 protests against this policy flared up and Tsiranana was forced to resign. He passed power to General Gabriel Ramanantsoa and his Provisional Government. These changed foreign policy in favor of closer ties with the Soviet Union . In 1975, under Richard Ratsimandrava and after his death in the same year and under Gilles Andriamahazo, attempts were made to return to democracy.

In vain, because in 1975 the former foreign minister, Admiral Didier Ratsiraka , came to power. On December 30, 1975, the Democratic Republic of Madagascar was proclaimed. Ratsiraka was elected president for seven years and continued to operate in the direction of socialism, nationalizing large parts of the economy and breaking off all relations with France. These policies accelerated the decline of the Malagasy economy as French immigrants left the country after independence, creating a lack of skills and technology. Ratsiraka's seven-year reign was extended after his party ( Avantgarde de la Révolution Malgache AREMA) was the only party allowed to vote in 1977. Due to the catastrophic economic situation caused by socialist mismanagement, Madagascar again approached France and changed its pro-communist policy to a pro-capitalist one . Finally, the Malagasy opposition and the international public forced him to revise his position ideologically, so that in 1992 a new civil constitution was passed in a referendum.

In 1993 Ratsiraka was defeated by Albert Zafy in the first multi-party elections. Zafy failed to unify the divided country and was charged in 1996. The elections that followed in 1997, with a turnout of less than 50%, surprisingly ended with the re-election of Didier Ratsiraka. He continued to strive towards capitalism . The influence of the IMF and World Bank led to widespread privatization .

The opposition to Ratsiraka increased again. The 2000 provincial elections were boycotted by opposition parties, and the 2001 presidential election sparked several controversies. Opposition candidate Marc Ravalomanana claimed victory after the first round (in December), but this was contested by the incumbent. At the beginning of 2002, supporters of both sides fought violent arguments on the street. Ravalomanana presented evidence of election fraud. After a recount in April, the Supreme Constitutional Court declared Ravalomanana the election winner. Ratsiraka went on to challenge the result, but his opponent was recognized internationally. Ratsiraka fled into exile in France.

In the parliamentary elections in December 2002, Ravalomanana's I Love Madagascar party achieved an overwhelming election success. He used his mandate to implement economic reforms and fight corruption in close cooperation with the IMF and World Bank. Ratsiraka was sentenced in absentia to 10 years of forced labor for misappropriating public funds .

On January 27, 2009 there were protests against the Ravalomanana government. The cause was a government decision to shut down TV Viva, which broadcast a speech by Didier Ratsiraka . The leader of the demonstration, Andry Rajoelina , until then mayor of the capital and owner of the television channel, proclaimed a counter-government that was not democratically legitimized. Constitutional lawyers rate this as an attempted coup. When the supporters of Rajaoelina tried to storm the city palace of the president at his request, they were prevented by the police using firearms. 30 people were killed.

After his failed coup attempt, Rajoelina fled to the French embassy on March 6, 2009.

Thanks to the international mediation led by the Development Community of Southern Africa (SADC), a roadmap to end the crisis was drawn up on September 17, 2011, which was supported by most political groups. He identified important steps and measures on the way to elections and the return to democracy and the rule of law.

Elections in Madagascar , monitored by the international community, were held on October 25, 2013. For the election of the president, a runoff election on December 20, 2013 was necessary, which the finance minister of the transitional government Hery Rajaonarimampianina won and was sworn in as president in January 2014.

One of the few open and therefore critical points on the return to the rule of law was the question of the role of former President Ravalomanana. He returned on October 13, 2014 after five years of exile and was “brought to safety” shortly after his arrival in Antananarivo, as he indirectly called for a coup.

See also

literature

  • Matthew E. Hules et al .: The Dual Origin of the Malagasy in Island Southeast Asia and East Africa: Evidence from Maternal and Paternal Lineages. In: American Journal of Human Genetics 76 (2005), pp. 894-901.
  • Philip M. Allen, Maureen Covell: Historical Dictionary of Madagascar 2nd Edition, Scarecrow Press, Lanham (Maryland) 2005, ISBN 0-8108-4636-5 .
  • Mervyn Brown: A History of Madagascar . Markus Wiener, Princeton 2000, ISBN 1-55876-292-2 .
  • Philip M. Allen: Madagascar: Conflicts of Authority in the Great Island . Westview Press, Boulder (Colorado) 1995, ISBN 0-8133-0258-7 .

Web links

Commons : History of Madagascar  - Collection of pictures, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ See Allen and Covell: Historical Dictionary of Madagascar. S. xxx-xxxi.
  2. ^ Franz Ansprenger: Politics in Black Africa. The modern political movements in Africa with French influences. Westdeutscher Verlag Köln and Opladen, 1961, p. 73.
  3. ^ 1947 L'insurrection à Madagascar - Jean Fremigacci - Marianne
  4. ↑ June Hannam, Mitzi Auchterlonie, Katherine Holden: International Encyclopedia of Women's Suffrage. ABC-Clio, Santa Barbara, Denver, Oxford 2000, ISBN 1-57607-064-6 , p. 8.
  5. ↑ a b c lonely planet : Madagascar history ( Memento of the original from October 18, 2007 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.lonelyplanet.com
  6. ↑ a b BBC : Madagascar timeline
  7. ^ Franz Nuscheler, Klaus Ziemer: The election of parliaments and other state organs , Volume 2 Africa, Berlin, New York 1978, ISBN 3-11-004518-4 , page 1182 digitized
  8. ↑ a b Africa.com: Madagascar history and culture (via archive.org) ( Memento from January 23, 2008 in the Internet Archive )
  9. ↑ BBC : Madagascar timeline came up
  10. ↑ lonely Planet : Madagascar history ( Memento of the original from October 18, 2007 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was automatically inserted and not yet checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. has been @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.lonelyplanet.com
  11. ↑ BBC : Madagascar timeline
  12. ↑ Lonely Planet : Madagascar History ( Memento of the original from October 18, 2007 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.lonelyplanet.com
  13. ↑ Lonely Planet : Madagascar history ( Memento of the original from October 18, 2007 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.lonelyplanet.com
  14. ↑ BBC News : Ratsiraka gets 10 years hard labor
  15. ↑ Rajoelina réfugié à l'ambassade de France , Le Figaro (10 March 2009)
  16. ↑ Travel advice from the Federal Department of Foreign Affairs with election dates , accessed on September 22, 2013.
  17. ↑ Maja Braun: Madagascar has a legal government again. In: Deutsche Welle. January 4, 2014, accessed January 4, 2014.
  18. ↑ Madagascar's ex-president stated , dw.de of October 13, 2014, accessed on October 19, 2018
  19. ↑ jeuneafrique.com