Leaders of the 15-nation Southern African Development Community (SADC) will hold an extraordinary summit in South Africa this weekend to discuss the political crisis on the island of Madagascar, dpa quoted the government in Pretoria as announcing. South African President Jacob Zuma will chair the meeting of heads and state and government in Johannesburg on Saturday, the foreign ministry said in a statement. The summit was being called to "further search for a sustainable political solution to the situation in Madagascar." The impoverished Indian Ocean island has been in turmoil since the beginning of the year, when the opposition took to the streets to try to unseat then president Marc Ravalomanana, accusing him of authoritarianism and economic misrule. When a section of the military thew its lot in with the opposition, Ravalomanana, who was democratically re-elected to a second five-year term in December 2005, agreed to step aside. His arch-rival Andry Rajoelina, the former mayor of the capital Antananarivo, was later sworn in as interim president but the international community is refusing to recognize his rule. SADC suspended Madagascar's membership over what it called the "unconstitutional" change of power.
