The US Ambassador to Madagascar, Niels Marquardt, articulated the position of the international community regarding the necessity of Madagascar's Presidential Elections this year.

Rejecting the International Community viewpoint, the coup Government sees this as an embarrassment and may eject the Ambassador from the country.

Madagascar Prime Minister Monja taunted the US Ambassador, during a public speech in Belo sur Tsiribihina last week, saying he was welcome to leave at any time, if he didn't like what was going on. "He said Americans were going to quit Madagascar. Three months later he is still there. Nobody is forcing him to stay."

Over the past few months in Madagascar, the basic right to express one's opinion has become forbidden. Under the pressure of guns, the local population is forced to keep quiet. Now, even foreign diplomats in Madagascar are being warned, when expressing their Government's positions.

The Prime Minister is telling the most democratic and the most powerful country in the world to shut up, even though Madagascar receives millions dollars worth of financial help from the US. Money comes to Madagascar from the MCC/MCA, AGOA, USAID, as well as dozens of environment, conservation and humanitarian projects.

It is an affront to the U.S government and the American people when they are trying to find solutions for Madagascar. Being among the first selected countries in the AGOA, the position of Madagascar is now critical because of the non respect of democracy and human rights since March 2009.

More than 200,000 people are likely to be jobless before the end of this year if Madagascar is suspended from the AGOA, plus there are many other projects supported by the US.

Diplomacy has become irrelevant to the Coup Government, during speeches of the HAT members. They forget that 70 to 80 percent of Madagascar's government budget comes from international help.

Latest AGOA Trade Data currently available on AGOA.info


Click here to view a sector profile of Madagascar's bilateral trade with the United States, disaggregated by total exports and imports, AGOA exports and GSP exports.

Other regularly updated trade statistics on AGOA.info include: (click each link to view)