Scientists find Madagascar chameleon last seen 100 years ago

October 30, 2020

(AP) Talk about good camouflage! Scientists say they have found an elusive chameleon species that was last spotted in Madagascar 100 years ago. Researchers from Madagascar and Germany said Friday that they discovered several living specimens of Voeltzkow’s chameleon during an expedition to the northwest of the African island nation.

In a report published in the journal Salamandra, the team led by scientists from the Bavarian Natural History Collections ZSM said genetic analysis determined that the species is closely related to Labord’s chameleon.

Researchers believe that both reptiles only live during the rainy season — hatching from eggs, growing rapidly, sparring with rivals, mating and then dying during a few short months. “These animals are basically the mayflies among vertebrates,” said Frank Glaw, curator for reptiles and amphibians at the ZSM.

Researchers said the female of the species, which had never previously been documented, displayed particularly colorful patterns during pregnancy, when encountering males and when stressed. The scientists say that the Voeltzkow’s chameleon's habitat is under threat from deforestation.

Madagascar goes to the polls in runoff presidential election

December 19, 2018

ANTANANARIVO, Madagascar (AP) — Voters have begun casting their ballots are across the Indian Ocean island nation of Madagascar Wednesday to select a new president in a runoff election that pits two former leaders against each other.

Andry Rajoelina, 44, president from 2009 to 2014, received 39 percent of the vote in the first round in November, while Marc Ravalomanana, 69, president from 2002 to 2009, got 35 percent. They face off for the first time since political turmoil in 2009 forced Ravalomanana from power. Both have said they will accept the runoff's results.

Rajoelina, after casting his ballot in Antananarivo, the capital, said he is confident of the process. "I appeal to all the Malagasy people to vote massively to express their choice so that they can choose who will lead this country," he said. "I am a democrat and I will accept the verdict of the ballot box," he said.

Ten million voters are registered in Madagascar, a former French colony which is ranked by the World Bank as one of the world's poorest nations, although rich in ecological diversity. More than two-thirds of the island's population of 25 million live in extreme poverty, while corruption is reportedly widespread.

Campaigning in the election was largely peaceful. Antananarivo was vibrant in the final days before the vote with the orange T-shirts of Rajoelina and the white and green ones of Ravalomanana worn by hundreds of supporters.

Provisional results are expected within a week.

Madagascar protests halt activity at Chinese gold mine

Soamahamanina, Madagascar (AFP)
Oct 7, 2016

A Chinese firm said Friday it had suspended work at its gold mine in Madagascar after a series of protests by local residents.

"The company wants to pull out so that calm and security can return to the town of Soamahamanina," said Stella Andriamamonjy, the spokeswoman for the firm, Jiuxing Mines, which operates the gold mine in the town to the west of the capital.

She stressed that, "given the investments already made," the halt was a temporary "sacrifice" to appease local sentiments.

On Friday, an AFP journalist saw that the company's excavators and trucks had been removed from the site.

The mine was officially opened in May and employs 11 Madagascan and 20 Chinese workers full time.

Jiuxing Mines has a 40-year permit to mine gold at the site.

Since June, locals have held protests every Thursday, claiming that the mine has ruined their land and calling for the Chinese company to leave.

In late September, protesters clashed with police.

"We hope the state will suggest solutions so we can find common ground with the local population. We hope to be able to start afresh and correct the errors of the past," said Andriamamonjy.

"We will do our best to set up local projects -- because that is what the people want -- before really embarking on mining proper," she added.

One of the conditions of Jiuxing Mines' licence was that it build roads, electrify the town, renovate one health centre and build another one.

Source: Africa Daily.
Link: http://www.africadaily.net/reports/Madagascar_protests_halt_activity_at_Chinese_gold_mine_999.html.

Tens of thousands 'going hungry in drought-hit Madagascar'

Antananarivo
Feb 4, 2015

A prolonged drought has left tens of thousands of people struggling to find food in southern Madagascar, authorities in the Indian Ocean island nation warned Wednesday.

Local district leaders said more than 100 people had already starved to death, but the National Bureau for Disaster and Risk Management stressed it was still verifying the figure. "According to the information available from the Androy, Anosy and southeast regions, tens of thousands of people are struggling to find food," the office said in a statement.

The statement put the provisional death toll at 103, though it was unclear over which period the deaths were reported. A reported 98 people died the Bekily district alone, where local lawmaker Jean Daniel appealed to the media for help on Tuesday, warning that the food scarcity had also displaced nearly 3,000 residents since the start of the year. The bureau's executive secretary Ludovic Christian Lomotsy told AFP that the drought began in November and that teams had been sent to the affected a reas to assess the scale of the problem.

He stressed that the death toll had yet to be confirmed. "The figures we have are from district leaders," he said.

"Our problem is in verifying these facts. An assessment team has been dispatched to investigate." He also said his office was working with the UN's World Food Programme. The findings are expected in 15 days, said Lomotsy.

According to a statement by the UN's Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) last month, "as much as 40 percent of crops in southern Madagascar are at risk" because of drought, cyclones, and a locust plague that has lingered since November 2012. "More than three-fourths of the population in the Atsimo-Andrefana and Androy regions, where maize and cassava production have declined sharply and rice output remains well below trend, currently face food insecurity," the organisation said.

A joint FAO-WFP food security report released in October last year also warned of rising food prices. According to the International Monetary Fund, 93 percent of Madagascans live on less than $2 a day.

Source: Terra Daily.
Link: http://www.terradaily.com/reports/Tens_of_thousands_going_hungry_in_drought-hit_Madagascar_999.html.

Madagascar parliamentary election set for March 16

Mon, 20 Dec 2010

Antananarivo - The government of Madagascar has set parliamentary elections for March 16, according to the daily L'Express de Madagascar Monday.

They would be the first parliamentary elections in the island nation since President Andry Rajoelina came to power in a March 2009 coup. Presidential elections have been set for May 4.

The controversial Independent National Election Commission, which has come under heavy criticism for incomplete voter rolls, has vowed to update those lists in time for the March poll.

Madagascar's voters in November overwhelmingly approved a constitutional referendum - boycotted by the opposition - that lowers the age for presidential candidates to 35. Rajoelina is 36.

The referendum prompted a short-lived and ultimately unsuccessful coup attempt by a group of 16 officers and their supporters.

Source: Earth Times.
Link: http://www.earthtimes.org/articles/news/358962,election-set-march-16.html.

Madagascar's Rajoelina clings on despite mutiny - Summary

Thu, 18 Nov 2010

Antananarivo - Madagascar's embattled leader Andry Rajoelina Thursday appeared to have survived a mutiny by a group of army officers, who had yet to announce their next move after their declaration they were staging a coup came to naught.

The soldiers, led by Colonel Charles Andrianasoavina, announced Wednesday they were dismantling the interim authority led by Rajoelina since the former club DJ came to power in a coup last year.

Andrianasoavina, who had supported Rajoelina's power grab but now appears to have turned against him, said the military would put in place a committee to run the country while pursuing an agenda of national reconciliation.

But Rajoelina and his Prime Minister Camille Vital insisted they were still in charge and dismissed the mutineers as no more than a "handful of people."

Malagasy news websites reported Thursday that the officers, who are based at a barracks near the main airport in the capital Antananarivo, were meeting to discuss their next move.

In the meantime the island's around 20 million people were also awaiting the results of Wednesday's referendum on a new constitution.

The referendum was part of a plan to try restore stability to the Indian Ocean island, which has been in crisis since then opposition leader Rajoelina forced out ex-president Marc Ravalomanana in March 2009.

But the opposition had urged the electorate to boycott the vote.

Provisional results put voter turnout at around 48 per cent, a poor turnout for an election in Africa, with the Yes camp, led by Rajoelina, far head.

The new charter lowers the minimum age for presidential candidates from 40 to 35.

If passed it would mean Rajoelina, 36, whom the international community has shunned, could stand in presidential elections scheduled for May 2011, even though he has declared he will not be a candidate.

There were isolated protests in parts of Antananarivo on Wednesday, when thousands of voters were turned away from polling stations because they were not on the register.

Source: Earth Times.
Link: http://www.earthtimes.org/articles/news/354202,clings-mutiny-summary.html.

Madagascans vote on new constitution

Wed, 17 Nov 2010

Antananarivo- Voting was underway on the Indian Ocean island of Madagascar on a new constitution being promoted by embattled leader Andry Rajoelina in the face of stiff opposition from his rivals.

Some 7 million Madagascans out of a population of around 20 million are eligible to vote on the new charter, which the opposition fears will strengthen Rajoelina's hand.

Security was tight, after a protest in the capital Antananarivo last week over the referendum turned violent.

Heavily-armed police and soldiers were keeping watch over polling stations and city squares.

On Tuesday, the French embassy in Madagascar warned foreigners by mobile phone text message not to leave their homes for fear of being caught up in possible skirmishes.

The referendum is part of a process to restore constitutional order to the vast impoverished island, 20 months after Rajoelina, then opposition leader, ousted ex-president Marc Ravalomanana with help from the military.

He has since governed Madagascar as the head of an interim authority, refusing to implement an internationally-brokered power- sharing deal.

One of key changes in the new charter is that presidential candidates need only be 35 instead of 40.

If passed it would mean Rajoelina, 36, whom the international community refuses to recognize as leader, could stand in presidential elections scheduled for May 2011.

The leaders of the island's three main opposition factions, representing Ravalomanana and two other former presidents, have urged the electorate to boycott the vote.