Richard Ratsimandrava

Richard Ratsimandrava (born March 21, 1931 in Antananarivo , † February 11, 1975 ibid) was President of Madagascar in February 1975 .

Life

He graduated from the French Military Academy Saint-Cyr and served in various African states before returning to Madagascar, which became independent in 1960. He joined the gendarmerie there and reached the rank of Colonel in 1968 . In 1972 the neocolonial regime of President Philibert Tsiranana was overthrown by nationwide civil unrest and replaced by a military and technocratic government led by General Gabriel Ramanantsoa .

politics

Ratsimandrava became Minister of the Interior and enjoyed increasing popularity thanks to its people-oriented and national-oriented politics, especially among the rural population. On February 5, 1975, General Ramanantsoa declared his government to have failed, presumably because of ongoing power struggles between aspiring young officers and / or politicians of various origins. As his successor he designated Ratsimandrava, who won the nomination with the famous phrase "Tsy hiamboho adidy aho, mon Général." (I will not turn my back on duty, my general.) Accepted. Just six days later, on the evening of February 11, 1975, he was shot. The murder has been attributed to supporters of the old neo-colonial regime. This brought the country to the brink of civil war, which could only be prevented by the establishment of a military interim government led by General Gilles Andriamahazo and the very lively Malagasy community. In the months-long trial that followed, it was not possible to establish clearly whether and by whom the murder was commissioned.

In the history of Madagascar, the name Ratsimandrava remains primarily associated with the concept and philosophy FOKONOLONA (roughly “community of people”), the traditional base of Malagasy society that he brought into being as the smallest administrative unit.

literature

• Jan Richter: Madagascar - history, culture and problematic development , 2001, ISBN (e-book): 978-3-638-53736-0

Web links

• On the murder of Ratsimandrava

Individual evidence

1. ↑ http://www.dilag-tours.com/madagaskar-lexikon/pdf/lexikon_geschichte.pdf  ( page no longer available , search in web archives )  Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.