* Plane returns to South Africa after mid-air divert
* Ravalomanana allies quit government in protest
* Ousted leader still hopes to return
(Recasts throughout)
By Ed Stoddard and Alain Iloniaina
JOHANNESBURG/ANTANANARIVO, Jan 21 (Reuters) –
Madagascar’s exiled former leader Marc Ravalomanana was back
where he started on Saturday after a plane flying him home was
ordered to turn around mid-flight and returned to Johannesburg’s
main international airport.
Ravalomanana’s second failed bid in less than a year to
return could have ended in his arrest and would have stoked
political tensions on the impoverished Indian Ocean island. He
has been in self-imposed exile for almost 3 years since his
toppling in a military coup
Madagascar’s government rejected accusations it had denied
the plane permission to land.
However, instructions from the government for a number of
the island’s airports to be shut down, including Antananrivo,
during the afternoon are detailed on the website of the Agency
for Aerial Navigation Safety in Africa and Madagascar, an
African traffic control agency.
The former leader’s political allies said they were pulling
out of the country’s consensus government in protest.
Continued…
