Madagascar Gov't Arrests Top Rival

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Last updated at: (Beijing Time) Tuesday, May 28, 2002

Madagascar Gov't Arrests Top Rival

Forces loyal to Madagascar's disputed government arrested a top rival Monday after an early morning gun battle at the prime minister's compound.

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Forces loyal to Madagascar's disputed government arrested a top rival Monday after an early morning gun battle at the prime minister's compound.

President Marc Ravalomanana's supporters raided the prime minister's residence, the only government office he had yet to capture, Monday morning and detained Tantely Andrianarivo, the former prime minister who remains loyal to Madagascar's previous president, Didier Ratsiraka.

"He is a rebel and he was arrested because he has not respected the legitimacy (of Ravalomanana's government)," said military spokesman Capt. Paul Andre.

By Monday evening, Jacques Sylla, prime minister in Ravalomanana's government, said Andrianarivo was a free man.

"He is not a prisoner," Sylla said.

Soon after, Andrianarivo walked out of military police headquarters into a waiting car. But a close aide said he was just being driven to his private residence, where he was to be kept under house arrest.

The island has been split between supporters of Ravalomanana and Ratsiraka since disputed results from Dec. 16 elections that would have forced a runoff were announced. After a recount by the country's highest court, Ravalomanana was sworn in as president early this month.

Even before the recount, Ravalomanana's supporters seized the capital, Antananarivo, more than two months ago. Ratsiraka, who had moved his government to the port city of Toamasina, rejected the count.

However, Andrianarivo remained in control of the prime minister's office and residence in the capital until Monday.

Officials on both sides of the five-month-old dispute were to have met Wednesday in the Senegalese capital of Dakar for negotiations. However, Jose Andrinoelison, a top Ratsiraka adviser who was scheduled to attend, said that appeared unlikely in the wake of the arrest.

The arrest came the same day as a deadline, set by extremist Ratsiraka supporters, expired for all Ravalomanana supporters and people of highland origin to leave Toamasina. The threat against highlanders, who did not support Ravalomanana in higher numbers that other groups did, appeared an effort to stir up ethnic tension in the country.

Nearly 40 people have died in political violence since the dispute on this Indian Ocean island nation began, civil rights officials say.

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