Maldives Foreign Military Assistance
Malagasy armored personnel carrier
Malagasy armored scout car
Courtesy Thomas P. Ofcansky
Since independence, the Malagasy armed forces have
relied on
numerous countries for military assistance. Historically,
France
has been the most powerful and most influential of
Madagascar's
military allies, despite the rift between the two
countries in
the 1970s. Other nations that have provided military
assistance
to Madagascar include the former Soviet Union, North
Korea, the
former Federal Republic of Germany (West Germany), and the
United
States.
On June 27, 1960, the day after independence, Paris and
Antananarivo signed an accord that empowered France to
protect
Madagascar and to establish military bases on the island.
France
also gained freedom of movement in Madagascar's airspace
and
coastal waters. A joint Franco-Malagasy defense
command--which
consisted of the island's president, the French
ambassador, and
the commander of France's Third Overseas Zone, the
southwestern
Indian Ocean--managed the security relationship between
the two
countries. France also agreed to transfer about 4,500
Malagasy
personnel who had been serving in the French forces to
Madagascar's newly established armed forces.
French officers and French-trained Merina officers
dominated
the Malagasy armed forces. Additionally, the presence of
French
officers in Madagascar helped to maintain professionalism
and
noninvolvement of the military in politics. President
Tsiranana,
with French support, tried to offset Merina domination in
the
officer corps by sending promising côtier military
personnel to France for training and assigning them to
important
positions upon their return to Madagascar.
Apart from these activities, France also equipped the
Malagasy armed forces. During the first five years of
independence, France provided military aid worth
approximately
US$5 million annually, which included technical
assistance,
training, and nearly all the arms and equipment for the
Malagasy
armed forces. In addition, France maintained about 2,500
troops
at Diego Suarez and Antsirabé; by 1972 this number had
grown to
approximately 4,000. A general with the title of senior
commander
of French Forces in the Southern Indian Ocean was in
charge of
these soldiers. His command also encompassed French forces
on
Reunion and Comoros. His forces included a marine
parachute
regiment, a Foreign Legion regiment, and several internal
security units. French air units, based primarily at Ivato
airfield, had helicopters and transport aircraft while
naval
units operated three destroyer-size vessels, a tanker, a
logistical support ship, and escort vessels.
In the early 1970s, there was a radical change in
FrancoMalagasy military relations. Ramanantsoa's government
demanded
the withdrawal of French military forces from
Antananarivo, and
announced that it would allow France to have access to the
Diego
Suarez naval base only on a renewable basis. By 1975 the
French
government, which opposed the tenuous nature of this
proposed new
relationship, had withdrawn all its military units from
Madagascar.
Beginning in the mid-1980s, Franco-Malagasy relations
improved. Between 1982 and 1988, for example, 783 Malagasy
officers enrolled in a variety of military courses in
France. In
1989 France financed the formation of the Antigang
Brigade. On
April 5, 1990, France announced that it had donated eight
Auverland jeeps fitted with weapons, two ambulances,
military
engineering equipment, accessories for service vehicles,
and
8,290 air force and navy uniforms. France also supplied
the
Malagasy gendarmes with equipment and a variety of other
technical and material aid.
The political instability associated with the
democratization
movement again altered the nature of the Franco-Malagasy
military
relationship. On August 15, 1991, French president
François
Mitterrand ordered the withdrawal of French military
advisers who
were in charge of the personal security of Malagasy
president
Ratsiraka. This action occurred after the Presidential
Guard
opened fire and killed thirty-one demonstrators at a
prodemocracy
rally. Relations between the two countries improved after
Zafy
was elected president in early 1993, and French security
technicians provided him with an independent
communications
system.
Former West Germany was another important source of
military
assistance in the immediate postindependence era. By 1964
Bonn
had furnished approximately US$1.6 million of military
assistance, including thirty jeeps and five coastal patrol
boats.
Additionally, fifty-five Malagasy naval personnel were
studying
at military schools in West Germany.
During the Ratsiraka era, the FAP gradually abandoned
its
almost total reliance on France for equipment and
training, and
looked to several communist nations for foreign military
assistance. During the 1975-82 period, the FAP acquired
artillery, small arms, and ammunition from North Korea and
the
People's Republic of China; two landing craft from North
Korea;
three Mi-8 helicopters, twelve MiG-21 jet fighter
aircraft, and
two An-26 transport aircraft from the former Soviet Union.
North
Korea also provided four MiG-17s on long-term loan, and
about
ninety military advisers who furnished crew and
maintenance
support for these aircraft. Approximately 130 Soviet
technicians
maintained the MiG-21s and the An-26s. FAP personnel
received
training from Cuban, Romanian, Soviet, and Chinese
instructors.
As Ratsiraka's radicalism waned, Madagascar distanced
itself from
these countries. The collapse of the Soviet Union signaled
the
end Madagascar's reliance on the communist world for
military
assistance.
Since 1960 the United States and Madagascar have
maintained
diplomatic relations. However, it was not until the
mid-1980s
that the two countries established a military
relationship,
largely because of Ratsiraka's radicalism and Madagascar's
relations with the communist world. In fiscal year
(FY--see Glossary)
1984, the United States initiated an IMET
program to
help the Malagasy to improve their defense establishment
and
military training capabilities. The following year, one
Malagasy
officer attended the Navy Staff College and another
studied at
the Army Command and Staff College; additionally, six
midlevel
officers enrolled in advanced engineering, infantry, field
artillery, and communications courses. Also, in FY 1985,
the
United States approved a Military Assistance Program (MAP)
for
Madagascar, which included funds for medical supplies and
Caterpillar earth-moving and road-building equipment. In
July
1988, the United States provided US$1.2 million worth of
military
engineering equipment to Madagascar's Department of
Military
Engineering for National Development. Madagascar and the
United
States also cooperated on several military development
projects
such as construction of roads, schools, and health centers
for
the FAP. The FY 1989 MAP provided for maintenance support
for the
Malagasy Air Force's C-47 Dakota fleet. In the late 1980s,
Washington earmarked US$200,000 for a civic-action project
designed to build low-cost housing. In 1987 a "Seabee"
battalion
deployed to Manjakandriana to give a two-month training
course to
fifty-two men of the Third Regiment of the Malagasy Army's
Development Force. By the early 1990s, the United States
had
confined its military aid objectives to developing
Madagascar's
military engineering capability, supporting the air
force's
transport aircraft, and providing managerial and technical
training to the armed forces.
Data as of August 1994
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