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Madagascar: World
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Madagascar is emerging from a prolonged political dispute over the outcome of a December 2001 presidential election. This political crisis devastated the economy, further strained one of the world's top three "biodiversity hotspots," and disrupted an already weak health care system. The political crisis further worsened people's well being. In addition, during the eight-month crisis, illegal exporting of endangered species occurred. Such actions threaten long-term prospects for sustainable development in Madagascar, given the uniqueness of Madagascar's flora and fauna. With the political crisis resolved, Madagascar's prospects are now brighter than they have been for some time.
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Madagascar is an open-source package. It is distributed under the standard GPL open-source license, which places no restriction on the usage and modification of the code. Moreover, access to modifying the source repository is not controlled by one organization but shared equally among different developers. This enables an open collaboration among different groups spread all over the world, in the true spirit of the open source movement.
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In November 2004, after an absence of almost 30 years, Madagascar re-opened its embassy in London. On 15 December 2004 the Foreign Secretary, Jack Straw, announced the closure of the British embassy in Antananarivo to save £250,000 a year. He ... announced an end to the DFID-funded Small Grants Scheme, the only aid Britain gave to this, one of the world's poorest countries. The embassy closed in August 2005 despite petitions and protests from African heads of state, a European commissioner, the Malagasy Senate, many British companies, 30 or so NGOs operating in Madagascar, and members of the public.
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In spite of this difficulty, UNICEF, the World Food Programme (WFP), the European Commission’s Humanitarian Aid Department and other partners quickly launched relief operations to help the Government of Madagascar mount an effective crisis response. UNICEF has provided more than $1.6 million in emergency supplies, and WFP is working to bring food aid to areas where cyclone survivors can be reached.
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During World War II, Madagascar was aligned with Vichy France until 1942, when it was conquered by the British; in 1943 the Free French regime assumed control. From 1947 to 1948 there was a major uprising against the French, who crushed the rebellion, killing between 11,000 and 80,000 (estimates vary) Malagasy in the process. As in other French colonies, indigenous political activity increased in 1956, and the Social Democratic party (PSD), led by Philibert Tsiranana (a Tsimihety), gained predominance in Madagascar.
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Madagascar is known for its biodiversity (the number of different species that exist) and the number of endemic species (species that occur nowhere else on Earth). For example, of the 300 species of reptiles and amphibians, 99 percent are endemic. Madagascar is one of the top eight places in the world in terms of its rich biodiversity.
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