President Andry Rajoelina of Madagascar has dismissed the country’s foreign minister, according to reports, after Madagascar voted at the UN to denounce Russia’s annexation of Ukrainian territory.
On Tuesday, a proclamation bearing Rajoelina’s signature announced the resignation of Richard Randriamandranto and the appointment of the defense minister as his replacement, “in the interim.” There was no justification for the change.
The action was taken after state TV channel TVM at the weekend reported that Randriamandranto had, without consulting his superiors, voted along with 142 other nations to denounce Russia’s “illegal annexation” of four regions of Ukraine. Up until that point, Madagascar had maintained a non-aligned stance regarding the Ukraine War.
Refusing to cave in to pressure from the US and Europe to condemn Russia for invading its neighbor.
According to TVM, Randriamandranto made the vote decision without consulting Rajoelina or Prime Minister Christian Ntsay. On Monday, the controversy got worse when some media outlets accused Randriamandranto of disobedience.
At the National Assembly on Tuesday, Randriamandranto declined to respond to inquiries from the media regarding the matter and warned against “mischief-making.”
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As the HVM opposition party’s coordinator, Rivo Rakotovao described Randriamandranto as “the fall guy, (who had been fired) to fix a diplomatic error,” he was fired to “fix a diplomatic error.” President Vladimir Putin’s announcement that Russia was formally annexing four partially occupied regions served as the impetus for the General Assembly resolution.