Mandate impossible: Mediation and the return to constitutional order in Madagascar (2009–2013)

ABSTRACT

This article explores former President Joaquim Chissano’s mediation in Madagascar after the 2009 political crisis that led to the ouster of President Marc Ravalomanana. It shows that there are inherent tensions in mediating the reestablishment of constitutional order in the context of the African Union’s anti-coup policy. While espousing the ideal of mediation as an inclusive and locally owned process, Chissano’s mandate contradicted both the realities on the ground and the prescriptions of the AU’s anti-coup policy. The article analyzes the norms and principles inscribed in this mandate and their ambiguous translation into practice. The analysis offers inroads into understanding the normative and practical dilemmas of mediation in the context of unconstitutional changes of government.

Notes

1 Solofo Randrianja, ed., Madagascar, le coup d’État de mars 2009 (Paris, France: Karthala, 2012).

2 Organisation of African Unity, Declaration on the Framework for an OAU Response to Unconstitutional Changes of Government, Lomé, 2000.

3 SADC, “SADC Mediation Efforts in Madagascar. Draft Report 7 July–10 August 2009,” SC-A87.A, SADC Secretariat, 2009, 3.

4 Ibid.

5 David Lanz and Rachel Gasser, “A Crowded Field: Competition and Coordination in International Peace Mediation,” Mediation Arguments 2, Centre for Mediation in Africa, University of Pretoria, 2013. See also Gavin Cawthra, The Role of SADC in Managing Political Crisis and Conflict: The Cases of Madagascar and Zimbabwe (Maputo, Mozambique: Friedrich Ebert Stiftung, 2010); Antonia Witt, “Convergence on Whose Terms? Reacting to Coups d’État in Guinea and Madagascar,” African Security 6, no. 3–4 (2013): 257–275.

6 UN, United Nations Guidance on Effective Mediation (New York: United Nations, 2012).

7 AU, Communiqué of the 181st Meeting of the Peace and Security Council, 2009; SADC, Communiqué of the Extraordinary Summit of SADC Heads of State and Government, March 30, 2009.

8 SADC, Communiqué of the Extraordinary Summit, 2009.

9 Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa, Communiqué of the Thirteenth Summit of the Comesa Authority of Heads of State and Government, Victoria Falls, June 8, 2009.

10 AU, Communiqué of the 181st Meeting.

11 Laurie Nathan, “A Clash of Norms and Strategies in Madagascar: Mediation and the AU Policy on Unconstitutional Change of Government,” Mediation Arguments 4, Centre for Mediation in Africa, University of Pretoria, (2013): 8.

12 Bernard Kouchner, Conséquences de la crise économique et financière en matière de sécurité et de défense - Audition de M. Bernard Kouchner, ministre des affaires étrangères et européennes, April 2, 2009, https://www.senat.fr/compte-rendu-commissions/20090330/etr.html.

13 Interview, former member of the diplomatic corps, Paris, July 7, 2015.

14 Lanz and Gasser, A Crowded Field; interview, consultant, Antananarivo, March 10, 2014.

15 SADC, “SADC Mediation Efforts in Madagascar,” 3.

16 A. Ndimby, “Les ambiguïtés de Maputo,” Madagascar Tribune, March 11, 2009, http://www.madagascar-tribune.com/Les-ambiguites-de-Maputo,12488.html.

17 Céline Lavrard-Meyer, Didier Ratsiraka: Transition démocratique et pauvreté à Madagascar. Entretiens avec un président de la République de Madagascar (Paris, France: Karthala, 2015), 561.

18 AU, Communiqué of the 221st Meeting of the Peace and Security Council, 2010.

19 AU, Communiqué of the 237th Meeting of the Peace and Security Council, 2010; SADC, Communiqué of the Double Troika Summit, 2010.

20 SADC, “SADC Roadmap for Ending the Crisis in Madagascar,” 2011.

21 Lanz and Gasser, “A Crowded Field”; Cawthra, The Role of SADC.

22 For definitions of the different types of mandate discussed in this section, see Laurie Nathan, “Marching Orders: Exploring the Mediation Mandate,” African Security, 2017, 155-175.

23 SADC, Protocol on Politics, Defence and Security Cooperation, 2001, Art. 11(2).

24 AU, Communiqué of the 200th Meeting of the Peace and Security Council, 2009.

25 Organisation of African Unity, Declaration on the Framework; AU, Constitutive Act of the African Union, 2000; AU, Protocol Establishing the Peace and Security Council of the African Union, 2002.

26 Organisation of African Unity, Declaration on the Framework.

27 Ibid.

28 AU, African Charter on Democracy, Elections and Governance, 2007, Art. 25(4).

29 SADC, Protocol, Art. 11(2).

30 Ibid., 2(2g).

31 The Troika of the SADC Organ on Politics, Defence, and Security also formulated Chissano’s political mandate.

32 SADC, Communiqué of the Extraordinary Summit, 2009.

33 SADC, “SADC Mediation Efforts in Madagascar,” 3.

34 Ibid.

35 SADC, Communiqué of the Double Troika Summit. See also SADC, Communiqué of the 30th Jubilee Summit, 2010.

36 See for instance AU, Communiqué of the 237th Meeting of the Peace and Security Council, 2010; AU, Press Statement of the 283rd Meeting of the Peace and Security Council, 2011; AU, Communiqué of the 376th Meeting of the Peace and Security Council, 2013.

37 AU, Press Statement of the 283rd Meeting.

38 SADC, Communiqué of the Extraordinary Summit, 2009.

39 See also Peter R. Sampson, “Conceptual Shifts in Multi-Track Mediation in Sub-Saharan Africa,” in New Mediation Practices in African Conflicts, edited by Ulf Engel (Leipzig, Germany: Leipziger Universitätsverlag, 2012), 237–54, 237; more generally Ulf Engel, “The African Union and mediation in cases of Unconstitutional Changes of Government, 2008–2011”, in New Mediation Practices in African Conflicts, edited by Ulf Engel (Leipzig, Germany: Leipziger Universitätsverlag, 2012), 55–82.

40 AU, Communiqué of the 181st Meeting.

41 AU, Communiqué of the 211th Meeting of the Peace and Security Council, 2009.

42 ICG-M, Communiqué of the 4th Meeting of the International Contact Group on Madagascar, 2010; also ICG-M, Communiqué de la réunion consultative sur la situation à Madagascar 6 octobre 2009, 2009.

43 SADC, Communiqué of the Extraordinary Summit, 2009.

44 SADC, “SADC Mediation Efforts in Madagascar,” 3.

45 SADC, Communiqué of the Double Troika Summit.

46 Interview, consultant; interview, advisor to the AU Special Envoy, Antananarivo, February 17, 2014.

47 Interview, party leader, Antananarivo, March 12, 2014.

48 Matthieu Pellerin, “Madagascar: un conflit d’entrepreneurs? Figures de la réussite économique et rivalités politiques,” Politique africaine 113, no. 1 (2009): 152–165, 164.

49 Interview, advisor to the AU Special Envoy.

50 Mouvance Zafy, “Compte rendu des rencontres du Carlton, vendredi 12 et samedi 13 juin 2009,” Antananarivo, 2009.

51 Joaquim Chissano, “Report du médiateur HE Joaquim Chissano preparé pour la réunion du sommet de la Troïka de l’Organe de Coopération en Matière de Politique, Défense et Sécurité de la SADC,” 2011, 12–13.

52 Interview, consultant; interview, former member of the diplomatic corps.

53 Mouvance Zafy, “Procès verbal des résultats des pourparlers du Carlton, Antananarivo, 20–22 mai 2009,” Antananarivo, 2009; Mouvance Zafy, “Propositions d’amendements d’une ‘Charte’ proposée par la Médiation Dramé-Ouédraogo,” Antananarivo, 2009.

54 Lavrard-Meyer, Didier Ratsiraka, 597.

55 Interview, member of the mouvance Ravalomanana, Antananarivo, March 14, 2014; interview, party leader, Antananarivo, March 12, 2014.

56 HAT, Communiqué Maputo No. 3, Maputo, 2009; HAT, Communiqué Maputo No. 4, Maputo, 2009; HAT, Communiqué Maputo No. 5, Maputo, 2009.

57 See, for example, Tor Sellström, Africa in the Indian Ocean: Islands in Ebb and Flow (Leiden, Netherlands: Brill, 2015), 107.

58 UN, United Nations Guidance, 4.

59 Christopher W. Moore, The Mediation Process. Practical Strategies for Resolving Conflict, 3rd ed. (San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass, 2003), 15.

60 For general background see Jacob Bercovitch, “Mediation and Conflict Resolution,” in The Sage Handbook of Conflict Resolution, eds. Jacob Bercovitch, Victor Kremenyuk, and William I. Zartman (London, United Kingdom: Sage, 2008), 340–357; John Burton, “The Theory of Conflict Resolution,” Current Research on Peace and Violence 9, no. 3 (1986): 125–130.

61 Joaquim Chissano, “Report of the SADC Mediator on the Crisis in Madagascar,” 2010, 12.

62 Ibid., 34.

63 Leonardo Simão, “Letter to the Three Mouvances,” Maputo, 2011.

64 Ibid.

65 Interview, member of the mouvance Zafy, Antananarivo, March 22, 2014; interview, member of the mouvance Ravalomanana, Antananarivo, April 3, 2014.

66 Mouvance Ravalomanana, “Complaint in terms of Clause 32 and Clause 43 of the SADC Roadmap to End the Crisis in Madagascar,” Antananarivo, 2011; see also Lavrard-Meyer, Didier Ratsiraka, 566.

67 Interview, member of the gendarmerie, Antananarivo, March 18, 2014; interview, member of the political coalition ESCOPOL, March 21, 2014; interview, member of the mouvance Zafy, Antananarivo, March 15, 2014.

68 Interview, member of the mouvance Zafy, Antananarivo, March 15, 2014.

69 Interview, member of the mouvance Zafy, Antananarivo, March 22, 2014; interview, member of the mouvance Ravalomanana, Antananarivo, April 3, 2014; interview, member of the mouvance Ratsiraka, Antananarivo, February 21, 2014.

70 Mouvance Zafy, “Procès verbal de la rencontre des trois mouvances avec la médiation le 18 janvier 2011,” Antananarivo, 2011.

71 SADC, “Réunion du sommet de la Troïka de l’Organe de coopération en matière de politique, défense et sécurité de la SADC,” 2011; AU, Press Statement of the 283rd Meeting.

72 SADC, “SADC Mediation Efforts in Madagascar,” 3.

73 AU, Communiqué of the 376th Meeting; SADC, Communiqué of the Extraordinary Summit of SADC Heads of State and Government, 2013; ICG-M, Communiqué of the 7th Meeting of the International Contact Group on Madagascar, 2013.

74 ICG-M, Communiqué of the 7th Meeting.

75 Ibid.

76 AU Commission, “Aide-Mémoire: plan en sept points pour sortir le processus électoral à Madagascar de l’impasse,” 2013.

77 Ibid.; ICG-M, Communiqué of the 7th Meeting.

78 Iloniaina Alain, “Madagascar: Sortie de crise—Les sept commandements du GIC,” L’Express de Madagascar, July 17, 2013, http://fr.allafrica.com/stories/201307181299.html.

79 “Résolutions de la réunion d’Ivato conduite par le FFKM: pour un gouvernement neutre et une autre transition,” Madagascar Tribune, May 6, 2013, http://www.madagascar-tribune.com/Pour-un-gouvernement-neutre-et-une,18687.html.

80 AU, Communiqué of the 376th Meeting; SADC, Communiqué of the Extraordinary Summit, 2013.

81 Isak Svensson and Peter Wallensteen, The Go-Between: Jan Eliasson and the Styles of Mediation (Washington, DC: United States Institute of Peace, 2010), 13.

82 Interview, member of civil society coalition, Antananarivo, March 25, 2014.

83 Madagascar Tribune, “Résolutions de la réunion.”

84 Data drawn from Afrobarometer, http://www.afrobarometer.org/online-data-analysis/analyse-online, accessed February 5, 2017.

85 See, for example, Vivienne Jabri, Mediating Conflict: Decision-Making and Western Intervention in Namibia (Manchester, United Kingdom: Manchester University Press, 1990); Marieke Kleiboer, The Multiple Realities of International Mediation (Boulder, CO: Lynne Rienner, 1998).

86 James Ker-Lindsay, “The Emergence of ‘Meditration’ in International Peacemaking,” Ethnopolitics 8, no. 2 (2009): 223–233, 224.