Former Madagascar leader urges EU sanctions

By Richard Lough

NAIROBI (Reuters) - Madagascar's former leader has urged the European Union and France to follow the African Union's (AU) lead and slap sanctions on the Indian Ocean island's leaders who ejected him from power a year ago.

Ravalomanana quit last March after weeks of violent protests against his increasingly authoritarian rule, triggering a year of leadership squabbles on the island increasingly eyed by foreign investors for its oil and mineral resources.

"Each day of silence out of Paris and Brussels is a day of lost hope for Malagasy families who can no longer feed their children," said Marc Ravalomanana, who is exiled in South Africa, in a statement released late on Monday.

The crisis has paralysed economic growth, slashed public spending and pushed up urban unemployment.

Political analysts say AU sanctions on President Andry Rajoelina and more than 100 of his key political backers are purely symbolic and unlikely to have any impact.

The European Union (EU), which has suspended aid worth hundreds of millions of dollars, is also mulling sanctions.

Some analysts say France, Madagascar's former colonial ruler, which still retains close business and cultural links with the world's fourth largest island, has lobbied hard against any EU punitive measures.

Lydie Boka, a France-based political risk consultant, said the EU has previously delayed a decision on Madagascar.