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Madagascar - US Relations

Relations with the United States date to the mid-1800s. The two countries concluded a commercial convention in 1867 and a treaty of peace, friendship, and commerce in 1881. Since 1960 the United States and Madagascar have maintained diplomatic relations. Traditionally warm relations suffered considerably during the 1970s, when Madagascar expelled the U.S. Ambassador, closed a NASA tracking station, and nationalized two U.S. oil companies. In 1980, relations at the ambassadorial level were restored. Throughout the troubled period, commercial and cultural relations remained active.

The Tananarive (now Antananarivo) tracking station on Madagascar, off the east coast of Africa, was built in 1964 to give manned spacecraft ground controllers additional information on Gemini spacecraft orbital injection. As with most of NASA's agreements with foreign countries that allowed the agency to build a facility on its soil, there was no exchange of funds. No rent was exacted for the site. The 10-year memorandum of understanding between the U.S. and the Malagasay Republic stressed the international benefits of space research to all mankind. And the tracking station would generate much-needed weather forecasts that would give the Republic maximum coverage, especially during hurricane season, and would provide jobs for some 200 local residents. The station proved critical to the MSFN and was transferred to the STDN in 1972. In February 1975, the chief of state of Malagasay was assassinated, and a rival government took control of the islands. Negotiations in the coming months between NASA and the new rulers centered on the Malagasay demand for rent on the station site: $1 million per year retroactive to 1963. The U.S. could not agree to such a demand, and on July 14th, the Supreme Council of Revolution of the Malagasay Republic ordered the station closed and placed it under the control of the armed forces. NASA and Bendix employees were allowed to evacuate, but all equipment was left behind.

Because of Ratsiraka's radicalism and Madagascar's relations with the communist world, the two countries did not establish a military relationship until the mid-1980s. In 1984 the United States initiated an IMET program. The following year, one Malagasy officer attended the Naval War College and another studied at the Army Command and General Staff College; in addition, six mid-level officers enrolled in advanced engineering, infantry, field artillery, and communications courses. Also, in fiscal year (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 FAR.

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.

In 1990, Madagascar was designated as a priority aid recipient, and assistance increased from $15 million in 1989 to $40 million in 1993. Madagascar was one of the first countries to qualify for AGOA "Wearing Apparel" provisions, allowing the growth of a significant textile and garments export sector in Madagascar. Unfortunately, the coup d'etat that brought Rajoelina and the HAT regime to power, followed by Rajoelina's unilateral rejection of mediation efforts in December 2009, rendered Madagascar ineligible for AGOA under the economic and political governance criteria necessary for eligibility.

US assistance in Madagascar has contributed to a population census and family planning programs; conservation of Madagascar's remarkable biodiversity; private sector development; agriculture; democracy and governance initiatives; and media training. Madagascar became the very first country with a Millennium Challenge Account compact when it signed an agreement worth $110 million in April 2006, although the compact was terminated due to the 2009 coup d'etat and resulting ongoing political crisis.

The United States considers the series of events in Madagascar in early 2009 to be a military coup d'etat and, as a result, has suspended all assistance programs that directly benefit the government as well as all non-humanitarian assistance to Madagascar. The United States’ intent is to support international efforts led by SADC and the AU to ensure that a credible electoral process takes place as soon as possible, organized by an independent entity. The inauguration of a new president in 2014 resulted in a lifting of U.S. Government restrictions and was a major step toward ending the country’s political and economic crises

Malaria prevention and control is a major U.S. foreign assistance objective, and the he President’s Malaria Initiative (PMI) strategy fully aligns with the U.S. Government’s vision of ending preventable child and maternal deaths and ending extreme poverty. Under the PMI Strategy for 2015–2020, the U.S. Government’s goal is to work with PMI-supported countries and partners to further reduce malaria deaths and substantially decrease malaria morbidity, toward the long-term goal of elimination.