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IRIN hat geschrieben:
Analysis: Madagascar's unforgiving bandit lands
18.07.2012 - IRIN

AMBOTRAGANO - It took two years for Zakamihaingo Razafindranoivo, 37, to raise US$900 to replace his two stolen zebu (Madagascar's distinctive and prized hump-backed cattle) by selling vegetables and spices grown on his plot in Ambotragano, a village about 20km north of the capital Antananarivo.

"At 9am I checked them [the zebu] and they were still there, and two hours later they were gone," he told IRIN. "I need them to do the work in the field, to pull the cart and to produce fertilizer. These animals are important."

Razafindranoivo and community volunteers tracked the cattle rustlers for three days before giving up the chase. They say the theft of livestock and food have ticked up since 2009 - after Andry Rajoelina seized power with the backing of the military and forced twice elected President Marc Ravalomanana into exile in South Africa.

About a third of Madagascar is locally referred to as "zones rouges" [red zones], nearly 200,000sqkm of territory where the government exerts little or no control and where banditry thrives, according to analysts.

Oliver Jütersonke, co-author with Moncef Kartas of a chapter in the Small Arms Survey (SAS) 2011 Yearbook on the island's rising insecurity entitled Ethos of Exploitation, Insecurity and Predation in Madagascar, [ http://www.smallarmssurvey.org/publicat ... -2011.html ] told IRIN: "Zones rouges are characterized by a sparse population and a terrain that makes patrolling or any sort of intervention quite difficult. Security interventions require good equipment and communication facilities, helicopters and 4WDs - all of which are in very short supply.

"What is more, efficient policing in the zones rouges and in many other rural areas would demand disciplined and well-trained security forces; Madagascar hardly has either," he said.

The `dahalo'

In June 2012 clashes between the `dahalo' (Malagasy for "bandits") near Ilambohazo village in the southeastern region of Anosy, and Madagascar's security forces sent to the area following the theft of about 900 zebu, ended in deadly skirmishes.

"It was initially thought that six security force personnel [five military personnel and one gendarme] were killed in the attacks, but 11 other bodies have recently been discovered. Another seven security force personnel were wounded and four are still missing," according to a 21 June 2012 UN update. [ http://reliefweb.int/sites/reliefweb.in ... 202012.pdf ]

After the clashes `dahalo' threatened to attack other Anosy villages - Bevoay, Emagnobo, Enagniliha, Enakara Haut, Ampasimena, and Ranomafàna - resulting in about 1,800 people seeking refuge in the region's capital Taolagnaro (also known as Fort Dauphin).

In response the government said it was planning a "major offensive against the `dahalo'" and a helicopter was dispatched to the city, the update said.

Africa Confidential [ http://www.africa-confidential.com/news ] said the `dahalo' group responsible - estimated to be 400-strong according to local media reports - was commanded by a former member of Didier Ratsiraka's presidential guard, Arthur Rabefihavanana and known by the name of Remenablia. The specialist publication quoted a senior military official as comparing the insecurity in the Great South - the island's arid and drought prone region - as being akin to the conditions of a guerrilla war.

`Dahalo' activities are not restricted to one particular area, however, and local media reported 160 `dahalo' attacks between May and July 2010 in the northwestern Mahajanga region, with more than 3,000 cattle rustled, although there were likely to have been more incidents that went unreported.

`Dahalo' has been a feature of Madagascan society since pre-colonial times and was said to have evolved from ritualized cattle thefts between neighbouring rural communities marking the passage from adolescence to manhood, but in contemporary Madagascar they are synonymous with highly organized criminal gangs.

Well-armed bandits

"The largest and most powerful `dahalo' groups provide assault rifles (mainly AK-47s) and ammunition to all their members. They escort, in broad daylight, large herds of stolen cattle, carrying their guns openly over several hundred kilometres while crossing entire regions and provinces. They are now conducting veritable raids, taking women and children hostage and burning down houses," said the SAS 2011 report.

In response to rising rural insecurity communities were organizing `andrimasom-pokonolona' (self-defence units) and in some cases hiring private security companies to protect them from bandits.

"Villagers and these private [security] companies have no interest in arresting these `dahalos' and instead try to kill them if possible, as if captured they either later escape with the help of their fellow bandits or are freed by a corrupt justice system," Jütersonke said.

"The `dahalos' in turn react by increasing their groups and armaments. Similarly, security forces themselves have a tendency to silence their captives rather than arrest them, for fear that the latter [`dahalo'] might talk about their collusion [with security forces]."

Ambotragano has its own self-defence unit and "when there are people that we don't know, the village watch will go and ask them what they are doing here," Razafindranoivo said. However, it is a day-time operation as villagers are too scared to patrol after sunset.

Piers Pigou, International Crisis Group (ICG) Southern Africa project director, told IRIN security in Madagascar - which was far from ideal before 2009 - has worsened because of the diminishing legitimacy and capacity of the security sector, which "in turn feeds opportunistic criminal activities, and of course the situation is compounded by deteriorating socio-economic conditions."

The World Bank says the country's 20 million people have an annual per capita income of about $400 and estimates more than 75 percent of the population live in poverty. The international donor community froze all but emergency assistance in the wake of the 2009 coup and despite negotiations by the international community and the Southern African Development Community (SADC) for a return to democracy, the country's political future remains unchartered.

`Dahalo' links to the military

David Zoumenou, a senior conflict analyst at the Pretoria-based Institute for Security Studies (ISS), told IRIN: "The links between the military and the `dahalo' is seen as one of the country's highest risks," particularly in the "stateless environments" of the zones rouges, as the resource-rich country provides a host of opportunities for both local and international criminal syndicates - from the rosewood trade through to precious metals and gems, and the smuggling of rare and sought-after wildlife.

In July 2011 the authorities confiscated six containers of rosewood logs worth up to $600,000 from a port in the northwest of the country. [ http://www.irinnews.org/Report/94682/MA ... -continues ]

The zones rouges are not a "new problem" and bandits with monikers such as Ratsibahaka (The Bad Lemur) and Zaza Mola (Crazy Baby) have become part of the island's folklore for their criminal exploits "but since 2002 they [zones rouges] have become very prominent," Zoumenou said.

Political instability became the handmaiden of small arms proliferation on the island and after Ratsiraka refused to accept electoral defeat to Ravalomanana, the country was pushed to the verge of civil war in 2002 before international intervention averted conflict.

During the stand-off - which saw the capital blockaded for six months - the army split their allegiances and the two presidential contenders enlisted civilians and reservists to form militias to bolster their respective forces, ranging Ravalomanana's "légitimistes" against Ratsiraka's "loyalistes".

"Lots of people were armed from state arsenals and the weapons were never returned. Indeed, there are rumours that many of these armed folks are today's `dahalo'," Kartas said.

In the absence of any small arms recovery initiative, firearms are easily sourced through illicit channels, including AK-47 assault rifles, according to analysts, and the lower ranks of the poorly paid security forces are said to rent out their weapons, while the town of Ambatolampy, about 70km south of Antananarivo, is reputedly the island's main centre for the production of hand-made firearms.

Security sector reform

Increasing rural lawlessness is set against a lack of any effective security sector reform. Madagascar inherited and has maintained, by and large, a three-tier security system: a 12,500 strong army - although the top heavy officer-class structure is sufficient for an army of more than 400,000; a gendarmerie of 8,100 personnel supposed to provide security in rural areas; and a police force of about 20,000, or one officer for every 1,000 citizens. Within the security hierarchy the country's police chief plays a subordinate role.

"The gendarmerie is characterized by an inflated proportion of high-ranking officers, a meddling in domestic politics, and entrepreneurial enrichment - as is the army. [The gendarmerie] are ultimately an ineffective service on the island's vast territory," the SAS report said.

The Malagasy air force - a few hundred personnel - flies an aging fleet of various aircraft, while the 500-strong navy has about six patrol craft, which analysts see as insufficient to patrol the 4,828km coastline of the world's fourth largest island - one with countless remote natural ports providing anchorage for ocean going vessels - and so providing few barriers for the illegal export of its land and marine resources.

SAS author Kartas says that since the 2009 putsch living conditions in rural areas have not improved and "what is more, with the new regime, the influence of the military in politics has substantially increased. And security has focused on regime security, not on human security."

Army officers given free hand in rural areas?

Rajoelina has cited the well-equipped military unit, the Forces d'Intervention Spéciales (FIS), as a force suitable to counter the `dahalo', but in practice it has merely suppressed elements suspected of planning a counter coup against Rajolena's government in 2010.

Kartas said the unit's "authority and place within the security apparatus remains unclear". Some FIS officers were drawn from the Corps d'armée du personnel et des services administrative et technique (CAPSAT) barracks in Antananrivo, which gave considerable support to Rajoelina when he ousted Ravalomanana.

Zoumenou of the ISS said Rajoelina had made "concessions" to the army's officer class to essentially "do what they want" in rural areas, in exchange for their support for him to remain in power and "now everything is possible".

ICG's Pigou says: "The military remain kingmakers - although the nature of their relationship with some politicians is symbiotic. Any settlement must somehow co-opt them, or find a way of ensuring they do not interfere. While they may not be able to provide a political solution or alternative by themselves, without their blessing one imagines that any political `solution' would be on a shaky foundation."

Jütersonke said cattle rustling was a profitable venture, but the question was: Have the `dahalo' already ventured into other criminal enterprises and "will they even start to embrace or express political goals? If they (`dahalo') become a disciplined force with good equipment, the state's army and security forces will face a formidable challenge."

... Police at Madagascar's Central Service of Criminal Affairs said they arrested four people, including one Pakistani identified as Jaffar Iounouss. Five rifles, four automatic pistols and two grenades were seized from them [...] The suspects were plotting a kidnapping when they were held, police said.

Die jüngste spektakuläre Armeemeuterei offenbart die tiefe Krise, in der der Inselstaat seit dem Militärputsch von 2009 steckt [...] Auch jenseits dessen wird Madagaskar immer unsicherer. Die wichtige Überlandstraße, die die Hauptstadt im Hochland mit dem 350 Kilometer entfernten Ozeanhafen Toamasina verbindet, wird immer öfter von Straßenräubern überfallen. Sie zielen auf Saphirhändler, die mit Geld zu den Bergwerken von Ambatodrazaka fahren und mit Edelsteinen zurückkehren. Völlig unübersichtlich ist die Lage im entlegenen Süden, wo Aktivitäten von Wilderern sich nach Meinung eines hohen Generals zu einer „Guerilla“ ausgeweitet haben. Anfang Juni starben 12 Soldaten und Gendarmen in einem Hinterhalt in Befotaka, gelegt von einer Gruppe unter Kontrolle des 2008 aus der Haft entlaufenen Sträflings Remenabila. Diese Gruppe, genannt „dahalo“, soll seit 2008 über 3.000 Zebu-Rinder gewildert haben.

Madagascar ’s gendarmerie will send helicopters to eradicate zebu theft in the south of the country, official of the national gendarmerie said on Thursday. The Secretary of State in charge of national gendarmerie, General Randrianazary, said helicopters will be deployed following the massive zebu theft which successively happened especially in southern Madagascar [...] Since early this month, the government has already placed 50, 000 U.S. dollars bounty on the head of Remenabila, while a financial award of about 10,000 U.S. dollars will be offered for any reliable information enabling police to arrest him [...] A total of 11 people were killed during the weekend following a clash between cattle thieves and the local habitants in the southern part of Madagascar [...] including eight cattle thieves and three cattle owners [...] a total of 1500 zebus were stolen from several villages in this region after the armed forces failed the arrest of cattle thieves’ leader Remenabila in July [...] The real name of Remenabila is Arthur Rabefihavanana, but he used a nick name as leader of zebu thief. He became very famous in Madagascar since June after his clash with the armed forces, killing dozens of soldiers of armed forces in June. Remenabila took away thousands of zebus but these zebus still remain missing with him.

Nine people were killed as police and gendarmes intervened after a gang of armed cattle thieves seized a thousand cattle in southern Madagascar, the gendarmerie said Sunday. Six rustlers, two gendarmes and a police officer died in the fighting, after around 130 armed men seized the zebu, a local breed of cattle. "The police received a report of a theft of 1,000 zebus in Ihaborano," in the southern part of the Indian Ocean island,

Wütende Dorfbewohner haben im Süden Madagaskars in den vergangenen Tagen fast hundert Viehdiebe getötet. Allein in der Nacht zum Montag seien in Emanombo nahe des Küstenorts Fort Dauphin 23 Rinderdiebe getötet worden, sagte ein Polizeibeamter der Nachrichtenagentur AFP. In Tagen zuvor waren bereits mindestens 73 Diebe getötet worden, die größtenteils in den Diebstahl von Zebu-Rindern verwickelt waren.

Bei schweren Zusammenstößen zwischen Viehdieben und Dorfbewohnern sind auf Madagaskar in der vergangenen Woche mindestens 150 Menschen ums Leben gekommen. Besonders betroffen sei die Region Anosy rund 1000 Kilometer südlich der Hauptstadt Antananarivo, wo es immer wieder zu blutigen Racheakten komme, berichtete die Zeitung "L'Express de Madagaskar" am Freitag.

Auf der Tropeninsel sind inzwischen 200 Menschen ums Leben gekommen. Die meisten Opfern sind Rinderdiebe, die von der Bevölkerung gejagt werden. Eine Spezialeinheit soll die blutigen Zusammenstöße zwischen Viehdieben und Dorfbewohnern mit vielen Toten auf Madagaskar beenden. Die Regierung habe eine Einsatztruppe mit Mitgliedern der Präsidentengarde entsandt, berichtete die Zeitung „L’Express de Madagascar“ am Montag.

IRIN hat geschrieben:
MADAGASCAR: The hunt for Remenabila
24.0.2012 - IRIN

TAOLAGNARO - Yvan Razafimandimby, 22, was working at the family spaza shop in the Taolagnaro neighbourhood of Anbounato, Madagascar, when two soldiers arrived to inform him that his 50-year-old father was killed by bandits.

"It was really a shock that my dad was killed the way he was. If he had died of some disease, I would not have felt so much pain," Razafimandimby told IRIN. "I miss my father. I have lost a shoulder that I could rely on."

Fenandson Razafimandimby, a staff sergeant and career soldier, spent three weeks of every month for nearly a decade on operations against the bandits, who are known as the 'dahalo'. The primary breadwinner for his family of five, his US$400 salary was supplemented by the family shop, which has a daily turnover of $6 to $10.

Razafimandimby said soldiers told him how his father was killed. The security force, comprised of soldiers and the paramilitary gendarmes, were rounding up stolen zebu - Madagascar's humped cattle - near Lambohazo Village, in the south-eastern Anosy Region, in June.

"As he was checking the zebu certificate of a villager, a dahalo came up and shot him in the back," Razafimandimby said. "I don't think his killers will ever face justice. I can do nothing, and I know the government will do nothing." Two soldiers and eight gendarmes were killed in the clash.

Lt Col Mbina Mamelison, gendarme commander for the Anosy Region, told IRIN, "Unknown to the security forces, Remenabila and his dahalo were in the village organizing a burial for a dahalo killed a few days earlier, and they did not know there was a large number of dahalo in the village."

Remenabila, 54, has become the most wanted man in the country. A reward of $10,000 for information leading to his capture and $50,000 for his apprehension - dead or alive - has been posted by the government.

"The gendarmes are very angry about the killings, and we are ready to fight, but there is a huge lack of resources," Mamelison said.

Dahalo with military training

A serving soldier, who declined to be named, told IRIN, "I was sad and ashamed after the killings - sad and ashamed because the army is very weak and can do nothing to fight the dahalo."

He said many dahalo had received military training, having joined the army - one of the few sources of formal employment - as young men. After two years, young soldiers must pay a bribe of about $500 to continue their army careers, which most cannot afford to do. Instead, many return to their villages and earn a living as dahalo.

About 85 percent of the rural population lives on $1 or less a day. The only tradable commodity of value in poor rural communities is zebu, which are used for draught power and fertilizer; the size of the country's zebu population is estimated in the millions.

In the past three months, the theft of 2,000 zebu, valued at about $1 million, has been attributed to Remenabila. His wealth - in a place where bribes can secure one's release - and the terrain in which he operates make many doubt he will ever be detained.

After the killings of the gendarmes and soldiers, 250 troops, among them members of the elite Special Intervention Force, were deployed to the area in a month-long operation, but failed to make any arrests.

The dahalo are armed with an assortment of weapons, from those dating back to World War I to modern AK-47 assault rifles. When cattle rustling, they wear distinctive red headbands, but otherwise they appear "like peasant farmers, growing rice and beans. It is difficult to identify them. Catching [Remenabila] will not end the problem of the dahalo, I don't think," Mamelison said.

Red with a swagger

Remenabila, whose name, loosely translated from Malagasy, means 'red with a swagger', roams across 5,000sqkm of mountainous territory known as a 'zone rouge', where the government exerts little or no control [http://www.irinnews.org/Report/95892/An ... ndit-lands ]. "Lambohaza is not accessible by road, and you first have to drive to Esira, and then it is a two-day hike on foot without helicopters or radio support. You have to carry all the necessary equipment, including food and ammunition," Mamelison said.

There are plans to launch another operation to capture Remenabila, but without troop-carrying helicopters or radio communications to coordinate forces in the field, "the gendarmes are easily spotted and [Remenabila] has ample time to flee", he said.

A woman alleged to be Remenabila's sangoma, or spiritual advisor, was arrested on 15 September in Analabinda by security forces and was paraded before the local media on her knees in front of senior military personnel. According to local reports, she refused to disclose any information about Remenabila's whereabouts.

Mamelison said communities protect the dahalo out of fear or loyalty, and "the solution is to strengthen the system of zebu papers needed to sell zebu," to take away the market from the dahalo. Gendarmes are increasing scrutiny of zebu certificates at the main cattle markets in south-central Madagascar, but the dahalo are also becoming more sophisticated, with some specializing in the forgery of zebu-ownership certificates.

Little is known of Remenabila. He spent about two years in jail for cattle theft in Farafangana when he was younger and is said to have four or five wives and an unknown number of children. He belongs to the Bara ethnic group, in which zebu rustling was traditionally viewed as a passage to manhood, a custom some still adhere to.

Armed forces minister Lucien Rakotoarimasy told IRIN, "The dahalo issue has existed for a long time. It was a kind of sport before. If you don't steal the cattle or are not sent to prison, then you are not a man. Nowadays, it has changed and has become a source of earning money, and it has become worse and worse. The army's responsibility is to maintain order, but now there is a lot of disorder, so now the army are trying to restore order and security."

Spreading insecurity

"The threat is that it will be spread throughout the region, so we have to identify what is behind the acts of the dahalo - is it political?" he said. In early September 2012, about 300 dahalo attacked Belo Tsiribihina in south-western Madagascar, killing the commander of the national gendarmerie and the area's army commander, according to local reports.

Rakotoarimasy conceded the security services were ill-equipped to contain the dahalo, and although they had reconnaissance helicopters, purchasing troop-carrying helicopters would be "very expensive". The army is to upgrade its field communications as "at the moment we are using satellite phones, and it's expensive".

Part of the problem, he said, was the impunity that the dahalo enjoyed from the courts. Witnesses are afraid to testify for fear of retribution, he said, so more guarantees for people's safety are needed. "The army catches the dahalo, but they are released [by the courts]. Those who are caught should be kept in prison - but it does not really happen."

In the interim, the government is encouraging communities to protect themselves against the dahalo, as the security apparatus - which comprises an army of about 15,000, a gendarme force of about 11,000 and a police force of about 20,000 - does not have the capacity.

"I agree with self-defence by the villagers against the dahalo. People should protect their goods. So it is not the case that the government is teaching people to defend themselves - the idea is to make people aware that they have to defend themselves," he said.

In Betroka in early September, about 100 alleged dahalo were killed by thousands of villagers.

IRIN hat geschrieben: New IRIN film: The Zebu and the Zama
14.04.2014 - IRIN

In the Zones Rouges of southern Madagascar, economic opportunities are scarce, as is any presence of the state: the police are particularly absent from most villages.In the Zones Rouges of southern Madagascar, economic opportunities are scarce, as is any presence of the state: the police are particularly absent from most villages.

But there are lots of zebu - the country's distinctive breed of humpbacked cattle. Millions of them. Each worth several hundred US dollars. This walking wealth makes for easy prey for rustlers known as dahalo, who rob and kill with virtual impunity.

With no one to turn to for protection, civilians are forming their own vigilante units, called zama. Armed only with crude weapons and denied training or support from the government, they are no match for the dahalo, but this does little to dent their zeal.

IRIN's latest film, The Zebu and the Zama - Bounty and Bloodshed in Southern Madagascar, explores a vicious cycle of violence in which the dahalo murder those who get in the way and the zama mete out deadly "justice" on those they suspect of banditry.

22 were killed in a clash between villagers in southern Madagascar, a statement from the National Office for Disasters and Risks Management (BNGRC) said on Wednesday. Following a clash occurred because of zebu theft since Thursday between residents of two villages in the rural commune of Maromby, district of Amboasary South, in the region of Anosy, 22 were killed, the statement said. 275 houses were destroyed while 125 others were put in fire during the clash, making 3000 villagers homeless.