'No agreement' in talks between Madagascar rivals

Madagascar's President Andry Rajoelina and ousted leader Marc Ravalomanan failed to resolve their differences in a meeting Wednesday in the Seychelles.

Madagascar has been mired in political crisis since Rajoelina ousted Ravalomanana in 2009 with the army's support.

Rajoelina's government has announced elections for next year but is opposed to Ravalomanan, now in exile in South Africa, contesting the vote, arguing that a criminal conviction disqualifies him.

"There is no agreement," Rajoelina told AFP at the end of the half-hour one-on-one meeting. He added that discussions would continue but did not give a date for the next round of talks.

Rajoelina also kept mum about the details of the talk.

But one of his advisors struck a pessimistic note even before the meeting, saying there would "be no agreement tonight" because "the positions of the two are diametrically opposed".

The rivals arrived Tuesday on the main Seychelles island of Mahe in the hopes of bridging their differences.

Their camps spent all day Wednesday at a luxury hotel in talks brokered by South African President Jacob Zuma and Seychelles President James Michel, before Rajoelina and Ravalomanan themselves met face-to-face.

With the meeting a bust, Zuma was expected to leave the Seychelles Wednesday evening.

It was the second direct encounter between the rivals in the Seychelles in two weeks, after a first round on July 25 at an exclusive resort on Desroches, a private Seychelles island, ended without resolution.

The 15-nation Southern African Development Community, which mediated the talks, extended a deadline to August 16 for the rivals to settle their differences.

Since then, the Indian Ocean island has announced the first round of long-awaited elections will take place on May 8 next year.

Although the two men last year signed a "roadmap" toward elections, the deal has yet to be fully implemented.

The main point of contention is Ravalomanana's desire to return to his country. Exiled in South Africa for the past three years, he wants to be cleared for the 2013 polls.

But he faces life in prison back home after being sentenced in absentia for the killing of demonstrators by his presidential guard during protests that led to his overthrow in 2009.

On Tuesday, Ravalomanana denounced the "kangaroo court" conviction.

South African prosecutors said Sunday they were investigating whether the case amounted to crimes against humanity.

"A purposeful attempt is being made to mislead South Africans into thinking that I am guilty of a crime, and this is simply untrue," Ravalomanana said.

But Rajoelina took a hard line ahead of the talks, ruling out Ravalomanana from the next elections in Africa's largest island.

"He has already been convicted, so he no longer has full rights to run for president," he told reporters on Tuesday.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/madagascar-rivals-start-second-round-talks-afp-185506004.html

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