A meeting between Andry Rajoelina and his French counterpart, Emmanuel Macron is scheduled for the next few days. Andry Rajoelina revealed it in an interview with the French magazine L’Express, published last Monday. This will be the 4th meeting between the two presidents since 2019.
Andry Rajoelina is scheduled to make a three-day trip to France from today. The meeting between the two Heads of State should take place within the framework of this trip. For now, no specific date has been announced for this meeting either on the Malagasy side or on the French side.
The Scattered Islands dossier could be the high point of this meeting. Discussed for the first time in 2019 between the two presidents, the establishment of a joint Franco-Malagasy commission to decide on the future of the scattered islands was recorded. The joint commission had its first meeting at the Palace of Andafiavaratra in November 2019. The two parties subsequently gave themselves until June 26, 2020, the day of the 60th anniversary of independence, to find a solution to this file. delicate, but it was without counting on the Covid-19 epidemic which turned the calendar upside down. Since then, discussions have stalled. The second meeting of the commission was to take place in November 2022 in Paris but it was canceled by the Malagasy side following the dismissal of Richard Randriamandranto, Minister of Foreign Affairs. In his interview in the French magazine, Andry Rajoelina claims that a new meeting should take place soon.
The restitution of the Scattered Islands is one of Andry Rajoelina’s main campaign promises, but a few months from the end of his mandate, there has been no major progress in this file. The president is certainly expected at the turn by his detractors with this thorny file in this pre-election period.
In terms of diplomacy, Madagascar’s position in the face of the Russian-Ukrainian conflict, a very sensitive subject at the international level will certainly be discussed. Madagascar has so far always displayed its neutrality in this conflict despite pressure from the West.
The repatriation of the two Frenchmen involved in the Apollo 21 affair or the return to Madagascar of the “kabeso” or skull of King Toera de Menabe, beheaded in 1897 and currently on display in a museum in France, just like the skull of Prince Ratsimamanga may also be subjects discussed during this meeting.
