MADAGASCA: Madagascan millionaire Mr Marc Ravalomanana was sworn in as president before tens of thousands of supporters yesterday, but there was no sign that veteran ruler Mr Didier Ratsiraka would step aside.
Mr Ravalomanana, the charismatic mayor of the capital, pledged to reunite the divided island, but there was no immediate response from provincial governors loyal to Mr Ratsiraka who have threatened to secede rather than bow to Mr Ravalomanana's rule.
"A page of history has turned, a new one has opened, founded on national reconciliation, love of our neighbours and the cohesion of the nation," Mr Ravalomanana told thousands of people gathered in the main stadium in the capital Antananarivo.
But while Mr Ravalomanana controls the capital and government ministries, Mr Ratsiraka has taken his cabinet to his home region on the east coast and still claims to be president of the Indian Ocean island off southeast Africa.
Supporters of Mr Ratsiraka (65), who has ruled Madagascar for more than 20 years, have erected barricades and blown up bridges on main roads to isolate the capital, strangling a once flourishing textile industry that provided vital hard currency.
A court declared Mr Ravalomanana the winner of the disputed December polls a week ago, following a recount agreed by the two rivals in a deal they had signed in Senegal. Mr Ratsiraka rejected the recounted results, saying the court was biased.