Madagascar: President Rajoelina to ask France for restitution of scattered islands

Malagasy President Andry Rajoelina has announced his intention to defend his country's sovereignty over the islands scattered in the Mozambique Strait and to demand their return."They [the scattered islands] are Malagasy," the president said, as quoted by L'Express de Madagascar. "We want restitution, but within a concerted framework. We must seriously study the ways and means of doing so," he added. While admitting that sovereignty over the scattered islands is still a point of contention with France, the tenant of Iavoloha recalled that "these islands control important species, and the closest, Juan de Nova, is only 150 kilometers from our coasts."The Malagasy president took as an example the recent recognition by the United Kingdom of Mauritius' sovereignty over the Chagos Archipelago.The Scattered Islands are small islands in the western Indian Ocean, in the Mozambique Strait, that once belonged to Madagascar and then became a protectorate of France, as did Madagascar itself. After Madagascar gaine d independence in 1960, Paris stubbornly refused to give up the Scattered Islands, although the United Nations General Assembly reaffirmed Madagascar's right to them in 1979.Source: Burkina Information Agency