* Ravalomanana vows to return despite arrest threat
* Crisis has stunted economy of major metals producer
JOHANNESBURG Jan 20 (Reuters) – Ousted Madagascar
leader Marc Ravalomanana said he would return home on Saturday
after nearly three years in exile and still considered himself
the rightful president of the Indian Ocean island.
Speaking at a news conference in Johannesburg on Friday,
Ravalomanana said he did not fear calls for his arrest that
prevented a similar plan to return almost a year ago.
“I have not committed any of the crimes of which I am
accused by the illegal regime,” he told reporters.
Exiled in South Africa since he was toppled in a military
coup in 2009, Ravalomanana was sentenced in absentia to life in
prison for the killings of demonstrators by elite troops in the
runup to his removal.
Madagascar’s current leader, Andry Rajoelina, has said the
return of the former president risked stoking tensions and a
senior cabinet minister said in September that Ravalomanana
would be arrested on arrival.
That has not deterred Ravalomanana. “Any attempt to arrest
me will be unlawful,” he said.
Madagascar was plunged into crisis in 2009 when Rajoelina,
with the support of dissident soldiers, took power after weeks
of often violent protests, prompting Ravalomanana to flee to
South Africa.
The coup plunged Madagascar into a crisis with several
Western nations freezing aid and the African Union imposing
sanctions on the president, diplomatically isolating the world’s
fourth largest island.
The uncertainty has stunted the economy, a major source of
nickel and cobalt and world’s biggest vanilla producer, but
politicians have agreed a road map aiming for elections later
this year and will allow Rajoelina to stay in power until then.
(Reporting by Lisa Laventure; Writing by Jon Herskovitz;
Editing by Ben Harding)
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