Kidnapping unsettles Madagascar

President of Madagascar Hery Rajaonarimampianina

The increasing cases of kidnapping has forced the Madagascar government to beefed up security across the country.

The government has ordered officers and soldiers to intensify the search for criminals.

Gen. Jean Christophe Randriamanarina, the State Secretary for the National Gendarmerie, said on Tuesday that the action came in the wake of abduction of four employees of mining firm Kraoma from their Brieville Tsaratanana residence last week.

Tsaratanana, about 240 kilometres north of the capital Antananarivo, is a part of the northern Betsiboka Region.

The mine workers were released on Thursday after abductors were given a huge ransom they had demanded.

The Kraoma employees met with President Hery Rajaonarimampianina in State House Iavoloha on Saturday afternoon.

They were accompanied by Mining Minister Henry Rabary-Njaka and the chairman of Kraoma’s board of directors Arsène Jean de Dieu Rakotoarisoa.

“Acts of violence and terrorism will never contribute to the country’s development,” President Rajaonarimampianina said, vowing that drastic measures would be taken.

Kraoma is a state-owned company that exports about 140,000 tonnes of chromium per year. Its main export destinations are China, Japan and Sweden.