Heads of State and government of the Southern African Development Community (SADC) will hold an extraordinary virtual summit today. The political and security situation in Madagascar will be at the heart of this impromptu meeting.
Scheduled for 5:00 PM Botswana time (6:00 PM Madagascar time), the meeting was announced by the regional organization yesterday. “The leaders will review the political and security situation in Madagascar, based on the report from the Organ on Politics, Defense and Security Cooperation,” the statement noted. This will be the second extraordinary summit dedicated to the Madagascar dossier since the military took power in October 2025.
The Organ’s report stems from the third assessment mission conducted by the SADC Committee of Elders, led by former Malawian President Joyce Banda, in Madagascar in early May.
Following the military takeover on October 14, 2025, the committee was deployed to conduct a fact-finding mission. Subsequently, during the first extraordinary summit on December 17, 2025, SADC leaders requested Malagasy authorities to submit a progress report on dialogue readiness and a national roadmap by February 28, 2026.
The document, titled “Programme of the Refoundation of the Republic,” was submitted on time. It outlines the timeline from national consultations to elections, including the restructuring of the legal framework, with a referendum or constitutional election proposed between May and June 2027, and presidential elections between September and December 2027.
New Parameters
Since February 28, the SADC Committee of Elders’ mission has evolved to include oversight of the Refoundation program. The financing of this program was also a key agenda item during the May assessment.
Today’s summit will be chaired by South African President Cyril Ramaphosa. Although Colonel Michaël Randrianirina, the Head of State, met with him in January, the political landscape has shifted. On June 3, the leadership at Iavoloha delegated the conduct of the national consultation process to the Council of Christian Churches in Madagascar (FFKM).
The FFKM has since proposed a new three-phase calendar. The first phase (June-July) focuses on logistics and training. The second phase, involving the consultations themselves, is scheduled from August 2026 to March 2027. The third phase focuses on establishing a monitoring entity for the Refoundation process. While the government’s plan aims for presidential elections by the end of 2027, the FFKM calendar remains vague on this timeline, a discrepancy likely to be central to today’s SADC discussions.
For SADC and international partners like the African Union, the priority remains ensuring presidential elections are held within the two-year timeframe established by the State. Today’s summit is expected to be a decisive moment for SADC’s stance on the Madagascar dossier.
Captured & Published at: 2026-06-29 06:00:05 (Madagascar Local Time EAT)
Original Source: https://www.lexpress.mg/2026/06/sommet-extraordinaire-le-dossier.html