April 29, 2002	Monday	Safar 15, 1423

ANTANANARIVO, April 28: Embattled President Didier Ratsiraka returned to Madagascar on Sunday and rejected a deal he signed to end a deepening crisis on the island, saying he did not want disputed December polls to be recounted.

The island off southeast Africa has been in crisis since the elections, which Ratsiraka’s rival Marc Ravalomanana, popular mayor of the capital, says he won and Ratsiraka rigged.

Both men now claim to be president and the island is bitterly divided, but they agreed in Dakar earlier this month to allow a recount of the polls to determine the victor and end the crisis. If neither was shown to have won, a referendum would be held to let the people decide.

The results of the recount are due on Monday, but Ratsiraka — a former admiral who has ruled the island for more than 20 years — said he now wanted to go straight to a referendum. The High Constitutional Court (HCC), charged with re-examining the votes, was not legally entitled to do so, he said.

“Given that the recount of votes by the HCC is not within the constitutional prerogatives of the court, the solution is to go straight to the plan stipulated by the Dakar agreement to give voice to the people by organizing a referendum,” he told a news conference in his stronghold of Toamasina.

Five of Madagascar’s six provincial governors loyal to Ratsiraka said on Saturday they would set up independent states if Ravalomanana was declared winner on Monday, saying the HCC was biased in his favour.

BARRICADES REMAIN: By Sunday, their threat was more confused. One advocated a federation of six independent states — including Antananarivo, which Ravalomanana controls — while another suggested a federation of just four, the other two remaining independent.

Under the Dakar agreement, Ratsiraka supporters were also supposed immediately to lift roadblocks designed to cut off the capital, which have paralysed the economy and left Antananarivo short of vital supplies.

Many of the barricades remain in place, but Ratsiraka, back home for the first time since the Dakar meeting, said they were not his responsibility.

“I am not responsible for these barriers, but it is clear that they will disappear, in my opinion, of their own accord once Ravalomanana and his political allies return to legality,” he said.

Ravalomanana declared himself president on February 22, and has since installed his own cabinet in the capital’s ministries. He has a significant part of the army on his side, and has lined up his own set of provincial governors to take over from Ratsiraka’s men.

But while the self-made millionaire has a firm hold on the inland province of Antananarivo, it is unclear how much support he has elsewhere.

Resistance from Ratsiraka supporters has led to several clashes between the two sides. The ministry of health says up to 60 people have died.

The foreign ministers of Senegal, Mozambique, Gabon and Benin were expected in Antananarivo on Monday to assess how the Dakar agreement was being implemented.

According to analys