At the end of 2nd World War, Liberated France, cofondater of the UN, proclamed the right of self determination for all peoples and annonced that the colonial system that it had put in place was finished.

Nevertheless, for more than ten years france fought two wars - Indochina and Algeria - to maintain at whatevercost its presence wich had never been accepted and above all had never been really beneficial. This wars and the atrocities comitted by sides all are well known.

However the massacers perpetrated by France between 1945 and 1950 (Setif in 1945, Haïphong in 1946, Casablanca eand Madagasikara in 1947, The Ivory Coast in 1949) are less well known.

My homepage recounts here in detail the Madagasikara insurrection of 1947 and the war that followed : The intervention of French Troops who should have been sent to Indochina, atrocities comitted on the civilian population, the total lack of reaction from the Metropolitan non-communist left and illegal arrest of the Madagasikara deputies.

Saturday 2nd, March 1947, 8 P.M. Around 2 000 insurgents attacked a military base held by the occupying army near a railway junction at Moramanga. This base was initially meant to be a stop-off point for the troops being sent to Indochina, where France was fighting the Viet-Minh guerillas. The insurgents succeeded in wiping out the french officers, but senegalese snopers resisted.

Saturday 29th, March 1947, 10 P.M. In the south, the insurgents took coastal terminus of the railway that goes to Fianarantsoa.

Sunday 30th, March 1947 In the north the senegalese snipers pushed back the attackers who had retreated but who had succed in rising the people. Political victory for the malagasy people.

That morning the French Army massacred entire malasy population of Moramanga. Political victory for the colonists.

At the begining of the day, the Senegalese enraged by the massacer of their marabout and their comrades invaded [... ] Moramanga and took represal against the population. Soon after hundreds dead-bodies filled the streets and fields. All the houses were burned and after a couple of days the town was nothing more than a meap of ashers, At midday the High Commissioner arrived. He found no survivor.

Declaration of the southern insurgents : "This is the day when liberated ourselves from the yoke of colonialism. We fought last night and we will continue to fight". Almost a million of insurgents are in the region.

Monday 31th, Mars 1947 "Reiinforcements arrived in the Moramanga region [... ] The Senegalese in rage completly "cleaned" the region with help of the reinforcements. Anything that moved was killed with a bayonet. After three days thousands of natives have been killed..."

Tuesday, 1st of April 1947 The security chief, Marcel Baron, organize terror campaign in the towns. He starded to give weapons to soldiers, policemen and colonists.

At Fianarantsoa, insurgents who had been taken prisoner were killed under the pretext of an attemted escape.

At Mananjary, around fifty malagasy detainees (among whom were ex-service men from the 1st World War) were klled in prison or in customs buildings.

Tuesday 2nd of April 1947 "[The MDRM renonced violence or ] will they take the dangerous path of the Viet-Minh?" voie du Viet-Minh ? " wrote Le Monde. "As part of campaign of generalised agitation, troubles are occured in several points on the island".

At the meeting of the cabinet, Moutet stated that the MDRM was a "racist and nationalist parti who only want the oppression of the rest of the population by the Hovas after the elimination of the Europeans".

[MDRM, Mouvement Démocratique de la Rénovation Malgache] (*)

Thursday 3th , April 1947 "Calm has been restored at Madagasikara", was the France-Soir headline. "The rebells are acting in liaison with a political party".

On the island, the insurgents tried to take Fianarantsoa, occuped Vohipeno in the South.

Thursday 10th, April 1947 France-Soir for their part, spoke of "mysterious envoys who came in secret from Indochina" who had provoked the troubles.