Press Statement of the Ministerial Committee of the Organ Troika

Here is the genuine declaration from the Ministerial Committee of organ Troika. As we can see, SADC urges for the enactment of Amnesty law by February 29th, 2012. It has never stated that the return of Marc RAVALOMANANA had to be done by this date. Actually, statements from RAVALOMANANA mouvance, specifically, Mr. Mamy RAKOTOARIVELO, head of RAVALOMANANA delegation and president of Transition Congress, were just the result of logical interpretation of the SADC resolutions. There are at least two things which are 100% sure:

- The amnesty law must pass (the one which has been drafted and proposed to the government by the current Congress of Transition);

- Marc RAVALOMANANA must go back to Madagascar.

After this Troika meeting, the first signs of unwillingness came from Andry RAJOELINA, the HAT (High Authority of the Transition) and Christine RAZANAMAHASOA, the minister of justice. Yesterday during his visit of the Toamasina port, Andry RAJOELINA said that the return of Marc RAVALOAMANANA was not a matter of emergency and not his priority at all. According to him, there are other provisions in the road map which have to be emplemented before the return of the last democratically-elected president: the implementation of the CENI, the implementation of the national reconciliation committee and the amnesty law. Christine RAZANAMAHASOA shared her doubt about the deadline of February 29th, 2012. “This is too important to be considered in just so limited amount of time …”  She said. In her point of view: the proposal of amnesty law still has to pass by the council of government and the council of ministers before being returned to the two chambers of the transitional parliament (congress of Transition and High Council of Transition) to be voted.

PRESS STATEMENT OF THE MINISTERIAL COMMITTEE OF THE ORGAN TROIKA

 

25 JANUARY 2012

 

1.     The Southern African Development Community (SADC) Ministerial Committee of the Organ (MCO) Troika, comprising of South Africa as Chair, the Republic of Zambia and United Republic of Tanzania as well as the SADC Secretariat, convened an urgent meeting in Pretoria to consider the recent political and security developments in Madagascar as they relate to the implementation of the Roadmap. The meeting was attended by the Malagasy political stakeholders among them; the representatives of President of the Transition, Prime Minister of Consensus, the Deputy Prime Minister, the President of the Congress of Transition and Mouvances Ravalomanana and Zafy, respectively.

2.     The meeting of the MCO Troika took place within the context of the implementation of the SADC “Roadmap for Ending the Crisis in Madagascar”. The Organ Troika reflected on the political situation in Madagascar including the events of 21^st January 2012 in which former President Ravalomanana was denied entry into Madagascar.

3.     In this regard, the MCO Troika reiterated the importance of adherence to the letter and spirit of the signed Roadmap as the most viable instrument that could contribute towards ensuring peace, stability and democracy in Madagascar. To this end, the Organ Troika emphasised the need to avoid the selective implementation of the Roadmap. Therefore, the Malagasy stakeholders were urged to expedite the process of implementing all the outstanding articles of the Roadmap especially those relating to confidence building measures such as the enactment of Amnesty laws; release of political prisoners; the unconditional return of political exiles and protection and promotion of human rights as they relate to the freedoms of assembly and expression.

4.     The  MCO Troika reaffirmed the significance of the Roadmap as the only mechanism for resolving the current political crisis.  In addition, it re-emphasized that the Roadmap is aimed at facilitating a process leading to the holding of free, credible and transparent elections.  SADC calls on the establishment of a credible and acceptable electoral body (CENI) that will prepare and conduct elections that reflect the popular will of all the Malagasy people. It also noted the recently passed legislation by parliament in this regard as well as the expert support that the UN provided in this process.

5.     Considering the events of 21^st January 2012,  MCO Troika implores upon all the signatory parties and there supporters to desist from engaging in any further decisions and activities that are designed to cause division and which casts aspersions on the current  SADC sponsored political process. It furthermore, calls upon all the signatory parties not to withdraw from the Roadmap process but to remain committed to its letter and spirit, the principles of which include integrity,inclusivity and impartiality.

6.     The MCO Troika furthermore demands the prioritisation of the enactment of Amnesty laws by 29^th February, 2012 to facilitate the unconditional return of exiled political leaders. In this regard, SADC also calls upon the transitional authority to ensure the safety and security of all the exiled returnees, and the further implementation of the RoadMap.

7.     In addition  the MCO Troika appeals to all the political leaders of the various parties to provide the necessary  leadership,political maturity, functional coherence and responsible mannerisms in order to find ways of working together during this critical period. The interests of the Malagasy nation must be placed above  narrow party political,emotional,historical and individual interests.

8.     In conclusion the SADC MCO Troika will continue to remain seized with the Madagascar political process in order to ensure that she  returns to constitutional normalcy and a democratic dispensation.

25 January 2012

Pretoria

How Africa tweets …

New research reveals how Africa Tweets

South Africa, Nigeria, Kenya, Egypt and Morocco lead Tweeting on the continent

 

Nairobi, 26 January 2012 – Young people Tweeting from mobile devices are driving the growth of Twitter in Africa, according to How Africa Tweets, new research launched in Nairobi today.

In the first ever attempt to comprehensively map the use of Twitter in Africa, Portland Communications and Tweetminster analysed over 11.5 million geo-located Tweets originating on the continent during the last three months of 2011. This pan-African analysis of Twitter traffic was complemented by a survey of 500 of Africa’s most active Tweeters.

How Africa Tweets found:

·         South Africa is the continent’s most active country by volume of geo-located Tweets, with over twice as many Tweets (5,030,226 during Q4 2011) as the next most active Kenya (2,476,800). Nigeria (1,646,212), Egypt (1,214,062) and Morocco (745,620) make up the remainder of the top five most active countries.

·         57% of Tweets from Africa are sent from mobile devices.

·         60% of Africa’s most active Tweeters are aged 20-29.

·         Twitter in Africa is widely used for social conversation, with 81% of those polled saying that they mainly used it for communicating with friends.

·         Twitter is becoming an important source of information in Africa. 68% of those polled said that they use Twitter to monitor news. 22% use it to search for employment opportunities.

·         African Twitter users are active across a range of social media, including Facebook, YouTube, Google+ and LinkedIn.

Mark Flanagan, Portland’s Partner for Digital Communications, says: “One of the more surprising findings of this research is that more public figures have not joined Africa’s burgeoning Twittersphere. With some notable exceptions, we found that business and political leaders were largely absent from the debates playing out on Twitter across the continent. As Twitter lifts off in Africa, governments, businesses and development agencies can really no longer afford to stay out of a new space where dialogue will increasingly be taking place.”

How Africa Tweets found that Twitter is helping to form new links within Africa. The majority of those surveyed said that at least half of the Twitter accounts they follow are based on the continent.

Beatrice Karanja, Associate Director and head of Portland Nairobi, says: “We saw the pivotal role of Twitter in the events in North Africa last year, but it is clear that Africa’s Twitter revolution is really just beginning. Twitter is helping Africa and Africans to connect in new ways and swap information and views. And for Africa – as for the rest of the world – that can only be good.”

This post is from an Email of  matthew.gould@portland-communications.com (Matthew Gould)