Most unintentionally ironic headline of the day

From the BBC World Service Africa's Twitter feed: "Madagascar's constitution becomes the basis of a cartoon".

This from a country where several months, a guy who was constitutionally too young to become president stole power from the democratically elected government in a military-backed coup.

Deposed Madagascar leader sentenced in absentia

A court in Madagascar has sentenced recently overthrown president Marc Ravolomanana in absentia to four years in prison for "abuse of office." The court also fined the former head of state $70 million.

Ravolomana was toppled earlier this year in an army-backed coup, in which then-opposition leader Andry Rajoelina seized power.

Madagascar mob coup confirmed by supreme court, condemned by southern Africa

The long power struggle in Madagascar between the elected president Marc Ravolomanana and the opposition leader Andry Rajoelina appears to have come to an end, with Ravolomanana resigning and Rajoelina being installed by the military. The seizure of power was confirmed on who knows what grounds by the country's supreme court. In addition to the illegal means by which Rajoelina confiscated power, he is also too young to be president according to the national constitution.

The BBC has a good Q & A on the power struggle. By all accounts, the dispute appears to be virtually free of ideology and was between two groups that wanted to gain/hold on to power for its own sake and by any means.

Ravolomanana and Rajoelina have more in common than they might admit. Both became very rich and well-known public figures. Both were elected mayor of the capital Antananarivo. Both used that power base to lead mobs to chase out the sitting president.

The main difference is that Ravolomanana used the mobs to chase out the former leader Didier Ratsiraka because the old admiral refused to recognize Ravolomanana's election victory. By contrast, Rajoelina has never stood in a national election. And in fact, the coup leader explicitly rejected an earlier call by Ravolomanana for a referendum on the then-legal president's rule.

The first act of 'President' Rajoelina was to dissolve the country's parliament.

The coup was denounced by the regional Southern African Development Organization and it is widely expected that the African Union will do the same.

Mob topples president, opposition leader confiscates power in Madagascar

Madagascar opposition leader Andry Rajoelina has unilaterally declared himself president as mobs backing him forced out the constitutionally-elected president Marc Ravalomanana. This came a day after the legal head of state, whose constitutional term ended in 2011, offered a referendum on his rule as solution to the country's political crisis. Rajoelina rejected this democratic olive branch.

Earlier, the African Union had warned against a coup d'Etat in the country but obviously their call went unheeded.

More on this as events unfold.

All hell breaks loose in Madagascar

All hell has broken loose in Madagascar as protests try to oust the president Marc Ravalomanana. At least 25 people were killed on Sunday as police opened fire on demonstrators who were marching toward the presidential palace. At least 68 people had been killed in protest events prior to this.

The country's defense minister has resigned over the most recent killings.

This is the escalation of a power struggle between Pres. Ravalomanana and Andry Rajoelina, mayor of the capital Antananarivo.

The president dismissed Rajoelina as mayor of the capital but Rajoelina countered by declaring a transition authority and naming his own prime minister.

The protesters accuse Ravalomanana of being a dicator and of misspending public money.

Previously mayor of the capital himself, Ravalomanana assumed the presidency in 2002 after leading street protests to oust the previous regime. Though in that case, it followed elections.

Malagasy TV station arbitrarily censored

In Madagascar, the private television station Viva TV has been shut down after broadcasting an interview with the country's former strongman Didier Ratsiraka. The interview was unilaterally deemed by the minister of communications to be 'likely to disrupt security and public order.' Several other television outlets broadcast the same interview the preceding week, but Viva TV was the only one punished by the government.

Viva's owner is also the mayor of the capital Antananarivo and an outspoken opponent of the current government.

Anti-HIV efforts in Africa: two approaches that work

The Washington Post has a good article on the 'Best-Kept Secret' for reducing HIV in Africa: birth control.

President Bush banned funded to groups that provided or 'promoted' abortion shortly after he took office in 2001. But the article noted that the effects went well-beyond those organizations.

Two of the largest distributors of contraception [in Kenya], Family Health Options Kenya and Marie Stopes Kenya, did not provide abortions, which are illegal in Kenya, but were subsidiaries of London-based parent organizations whose members helped provide them in other countries. Together, the two groups closed five family planning clinics after losing U.S. funding.

In 2003, Bush created something called The President's Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR), as a way to circumvent UNAIDS, an organization which it could not sufficiently manipulate. Even if PEPFAR weren't working cross-purposes with internationally coordinated AIDS relief, it hardly makes up for the assault on family planning funding.

An ounce of prevention is a lot cheaper than a pound of cure.

The paper also has a piece on Madagascar's efforts to fight HIV-AIDS. A fight which is apparently working, since the island has the lowest infection rate on the continent. But with Madagascar's economy opening to foreign workers, a situation which often leads to a rise in HIV rates, the importance of continuing these efforts can not be understated.

Separation of church and state under threat in Madagascar?

The BBC takes a look at the increasingly close relationship between religion and politics in Madagascar under President Marc Ravolomanana. Many members of the majority Catholic sect are concerned that Ravolomanana is using his position to promote his branch of Protestantism. His explusion from the country of a long-serving Jesuit priest caused controversy. The president also pushed through constitutional changes that officially made Madagascar a Christian state. Ravolomanana's advisor denied that this constituted any threat to the separation of church and state.