SADC in Sandton
The SADC troika recently convened their extraordinary summit in Sandton, South Africa to discuss the previous meeting held in Gaborone regarding the situation in Madagascar and Zimbabwe. Their report came out Saturday saying that they would approve of the Road Map to end the crisis pending certain amendments but didn’t mention those amendments. They further urged that exiled political leaders should sign the road map, but should also be allowed to return to the country without condition and to participate in elections. Following the SADC declaration, certain military leaders convened and signed a declaration stating that they were against Ravalomanana returning as it would threaten “public order and security.” Andry however, later that day, announced that he would allow Ratsiraka to return but not Ravalomanana unless Ravalomanana was willing to be tried for “his crimes.” Andry further stated that he was going to adhere to the original Road Map drafted in Ivato under the direction of Chissano (SADC delegate to Madagascar). (The SADC troika has disapproved of Chissano’s version but Chissano saw no other possibility, so they have moved forward with his version, which has now resulted in the announced but unspecified forthcoming amendments.) Andry, however, insists that elections will be held in November despite the fact that even the original Road Map stipulates that elections be held under the supervision of international bodies i.e. UN, OIF, etc. These same bodies have insisted that the registration process requires six to twelve months in order to be credible. Without sufficient time to create the proper conditions for transparent elections these bodies will not observe the election, and it will be disregarded by the international community. The SADC is expected to draft a final version of the Road Map including new amendments and present it to the AU and the UN and later to Andry and other political leaders as a final option. If Andry persists in rebuffing the mediation efforts and moves forward unilaterally, further sanctions will follow, potentially including travel sanctions. Possible amendments could include stipulations for Andry to step down by a certain time before elections if he is to run or to step down by a certain time despite the lack of elections to prevent him from going on indefinitely.
Abraham Contos 
Great post!
Where do you get all your information about Mada? Do you read the papers there first and then find the online stuff, or do you have like a newsfeed or something?
PS I’m writing for the Political Review this year at BYU and I think my first article will be about Madagascar in someway. So any cool contacts you have that I might interview would be awesome. And I might want to interview you as well if you’re down.