Update

Here is a good article that sums up the situation here.. But I do NOT like the first sentence/paragraph (its a bit insenstive...cultural and racial)

http://www.iht.com/articles/2009/02/01/africa/madag.4-420685.php?page=1

Things seem calm, nothing big happened here in Ft. Dauphin over the weekend, despite the many rumors going around. I was told by a shop owner to avoid the Market Saturday afternoon. He claimed people would raid and loot the rice silos. This never happened. Sunday morning was a meeting with local politicians. For the most part people here support the Mayor, but under the constitution the Mayor is "a criminal" and should be excuted for treason. The current President was elected by the people. He still is...under the law...the President. Everyone for the most part feels that this is far from over (now being the "eye" of the storm)...I hope they are all wrong. I have heard reports of the military illgally taking 20 billion ar from the central bank, creating some concerns over the current banking system. Again, we wait and see. All the Peace Corps volunteers I am with feel (and hope) that this remains a peaceful political issue/dispute, at which point we would be able to return to are sites under the status of being on "high alert." For now..we remain consolidated, recieving little news and info. Its stressful and tension is high among all of us.

Ill try and keep you all updated