France tried to bribe Madagascar to replace its reformist negotiator, without success.

Evidence

In the Malagasy delegation, not everyone agreed with Didier Ratsiraka’s uncompromising stance. Most of his colleagues tried to convince him to give up abandoning the franc zone. The French, aware of this rift, tried to take advantage of it to get him replaced. Ratsiraka was accused by Jacques Foccart, the then Secretary General for African and Malagasy Affairs, of being a ‘kind of extreme leftist fanatic’. The French government informed the Malagasy head of state, General Ramanantsoa, that they would increase aid to Madagascar if he got rid of Ratsiraka. It proved futile: the general gave ‘carte blanche’ to Ratsiraka to continue his mission. Paris interrupted the negotiations several times, hoping to gain time and to convince the Malagasy to give up their demands. — Fanny Pigeaud_ Ndongo Samba Sylla, Africa’s Last Colonial Currency, 181

Categorization

• XREF: connects to: Colonial annexation of Madagascar automatically abolished slavery

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