MADAGASCAR: ISLAND OF FERMENT IN THE INDIAN OCEAN

ranana of the Malagasy Republic is one of black Africa's most vicious anti-communists.

Two months ago he told the South African propaganda magazine "To the Point': 'I will have nothing to do with communism. I will do everything in my power to stop communism, whether it be Chinese communism, Russian communism or imported from Cuba, or what you will. 'Even if it comes from France. Communism will never be established here, as long as I can prevent it. And listen to this. Listen carefully. Even if the South Africans took it into their heads some fine day to become communists, I would slam the door on them.' Tsiranana is, to all intents and purposes, the dictator of Madagascar, the world's fourth largest island. At the last elections, in January, he was returned unopposed to the presidential palace — with an incredible 99.7 per cent of the votes.

Tsiranana is a devout Catholic, who represented the country for several years in the French National Assembly before becoming head of state in 1960two years after independence. Now 60, he recently suffered a serious illness and neariy lost power when his ministers began intriguing against him while he was recuperating in a Paris clinic.

His South African admirers have dubbed him Monsieur 100 per cent, but his 6tmillion subjects don't agree. Last week, led by students from Tananarive university, they rallied 100,000-strong outside his palace demanding his resignation.

The huge demonstration followed a massacre of workers and students by the hated Republican Security Forces at the weekend, in which at least 24 were killed and hundreds injured.

Tsiranana replied with a state of emergency, an allnight curfew and the appointment of a military governor for the Malagasy capital. More than 400 students and workers were detained. The Republican Security Force barracks was surrounded by gendarmes in tanks to protect the inmates from popular wrath.

The explosion of popular anger against his regime cannot have come as a complete surprise to the Malagasy president, though only two months ago he was proclaiming that the people 'love me so much'. In March 1971, the poor peasant farmers of the south attacked gendarme posts and government buildings in several towns. Tsiranana put down the revolt with great brutality, over killing people.

He claimed 'Maoists' were responsible for the southern uprising and took the opportunity to fortify his personal rule by accusing former vice-president André Resampa of plotting against the regime. The southern uprising, led by the left-wing Monima Party, sprang trom deep economic and social causes. The yearly income of the southern farmers is about £18, of which more than a fifth is taken in tax.

Their smallholdings suffer the effects of drought and cyclones as well as the fall in export prices occasioned by the world monetary crisis. With over 450,000 youth unemployed on the island, including thousands graduates, Tsiranana's rule is becoming increasingly intolerable.

Mary ‹ of the peasants are worse off • than they were under French colonial rule before independence in 1958. In fact, independence brought little real change in the relationships between Madagascar and the former colonial power.

The wholesale trade in Madagascar's staple exports —mainly coffee, rice, sugar and spices—is still almost completely in French hands. The country is part of the French Community and has a 'special relationship' with the So close is the French connection that educational curricula for universities and schools are dictated from Paris. The French Ministry of Education, which oversees the country's colleges and schools, makes no concessions to Malagasy national feelings, and students end up knowing more about the course of the Loire than they do about their own national geography.

Resentment at French domination of the universities was one of the main causes of the student strike at Tananarive university, which culminated in the clashes and demonstrations last week.

The students rightly feel the arrangement is a standing insult to their nationality and their anger is increased by the minute prospect of ever finding a job where their skills can be used. More than 10,000 students qualify every year in administrative professions, but there are jobs for only 2,000 or 3,000.

By 1975, if the current trend continues, it is estimated that Madagascar will have 60,000 unemployed graduates.

The students' other main demand in their strike was the the annulling of the one-sided 'co-operation agreements' with France. Under these agree ments, signed in June 1960, the French government maintains 4,200 troops on the island as part of the South Indian Ocean Command. They include special troops trained for service overseas, including one regiment each of Foreign Legionnaires and paratroops.

There is a navy base at the port of Diego-Suarez, and a contingent of air force helicopters and transport planes. The French forces on the island are as large as the Madagascar army itself and under secret protocols attached to the agreements, the Madagascar government can call for French aid for 'defence' purposes.

The French forces on Madagascar are commanded by General Marcel Bigeard, an old Indo-China hand who commanded one of the two defeated French battalions at Dien Bien Phu. Bigeard is a notorious right winger and anti-communist.

At the end of last year Tsiranana denied 'most formally the malicious and ridiculous rumours which seem to be flying abroad that French paratroops have been sent to Malagasy to help me retain power'.

Tsiranana says he is 'very pleased' with the French military presence: I am not like certain Africans. What do they do? They shout "Independence, independence". And do you know what happens behind the scenes? They do not even have guns. Our enemies are afraid of us because they are afraid of France . . • The French protect us. That is why I like the French.' Among Tsiranana's closest French friends are the leaders of the Socialist Party. Madagascar's ruling party is called the Social-Democratic Party, and its leader has. a specially soft spot for the European reformists.

One of closest pean contacts is German chancellor Willy Brandt, who founded the appropriatelynamed Friedrich-Ebert Foundation in Tananarive for adult education. Tsiranana's latest actions prove he has little to learn from Ebert when it comes to suppressing revoluHis counter - revolutionary enthusiasm makes him' a natural ally of South Africa He says: If South Africa wants to co-operate with us, why not? If it comes to us with racism, there can naturally be no agreement. I have made this clear to the South Africans who came to talk to me about co-operation. They fully understand that.' Madagascar's 'co-operation' with South Africa is as one-sided as its relationship with the Common Market. The island is a lucrative outlet for South African capital, particularly in the tourist trade. Left and above: President Philibert Tsiranana of Madagascar. They call him 'Monsieur 100 per cent'but his 6} million subjects do not agree.

South African firms are building a luxury hotel at Nossy Be on the coast-another insult to the poor peasants of the southern area.

They are building airports and roads, and in co-operation with the French, they are building in Tananarive. Tsiranana maintains 'there is no scope for any sort of imperialism here' The 100,000 citizens who marched through Tananarive last week denouncing the French agreements as 'slave treaties' emphatically disagree.

Press. Tuesday ILATION May 23, 1972 OR PROFI T? THE RE HUNGER. BY BERNA