Madagascar Delegation Barred from UN General Assembly Stage

The political impasse in Madagascar has taken on new dimensions.  In an attempt to legitimize the military-backed government on the international scene, Madagascar’s current leader, Andry Rajoelina, was scheduled to take the floor at the UN General Assembly in New York on Thursday, only to be barred from speaking. He was later rescheduled to address the Assembly at the following Friday session when the representative of the Democratic Republic of Congo, on behalf of the Southern African Development Community (SADC), formally protested his speech as he was about to take the floor. The motion was put to a vote (fr) and resulted in 23 against Rajoelina’s presence at the stage, 4 in favor and 6 abstentions. The procedure was marred with legal argumentation and a bit of confusion as one can observe on the following video by Malagasy blogger vatofototra:

Many Malagasy bloggers/twitterers followed the exchange on the UN webcast and reacted instantly via twitter as the crisis in Madagascar took another improbable turn.
As Rajoelina was about to take the stage, Malagasy blogger Aliotsy noted:

Congo’s rep just called on member states (SADC or UN?) to walk out on Rajoelina if he speaks. http://www.un.org/webcast/ #Madagascar #fb

Rashaja is a bit perplexed:

situation is quite funny actually…total mess, total confusion. President of Session and advisor not experienced enough? #UN #Madagascar

Samganegie adds (fr):

président de l’assemblé est même sorti de sa tribune, et ses assistant sont completement paumés !!#madagascar

Streetrover bemoans the state of politics in Madagascar:

Rajoelina shunned at the UN, its ambassador @ UN publicly named in an internatnl bribery scheme on the same day! #madagascar needs a break!

HairyT and Solofo agree that it was a low point in Madagascar’s history:

RT @solofo: What a shame for #Madagascar . I don’t care about #Rajoelina/ RT Pdt Prevented from Taking Floor at #UN

The pro-government blog Madagate weighs in on the incident (fr):

Ce moment irritant dans l’histoire de Madagascar fait déjà partie du passé. Car cette crise aura une fin, quoi qu’il puisse arriver. Pour le moment, la majorité des Malgaches de Madagascar commence à la vivre très mal car ils se perdent en conjectures.

In the meantime, Unrest has once again broken in the aftermath of the UN fiasco. Investgasy posted on twitter today:

#Madagascar: shootings in Anosy (Tana) right now, armed 4×4 are everywhere

. The report was later confirmed by Reuters, reporting tear gas launching and wanring shots fired at demonstrators.

Finally Jentilisa reports that young reservists of the army who fought by Rajoelina’s side early in the crisis are now demanding that Rajoelina keep his promises (mg):

..ny rezervista tanora, nitolona tamin’ny andron’ny TGV, hidina an-dalambe izy ireo hitondra sora-baventy satria tsy tanteraka ny fampanantenana natao tamin’izy ireo, toy ny hanomezana asa ho azy ireo tahaka ny hoe fampidirana azy ho miaramila ary hotsinjovina manokana ny rezervista nanohana ny tolona.