Madagascar Deaths Rise To 44, Shops Heed Strike

`There are 44 bodies in the city morgue,` Antananarivo`s commander of police, Colonel Frederic Raqotonandrasana, told Reuters.

Madagascar police said on Thursday the death toll from this week's unrest had risen to 44, and most businesses in the capital heeded a call by the opposition to stay shut as an anti-government protest.

Most of those killed were suspected looters caught when a three-storey clothes store went up in flames after an opposition demonstration on Monday degenerated into violence.

"There are 44 bodies in the city morgue," Antananarivo's commander of police, Colonel Frederic Raqotonandrasana, told Reuters. "Thirty four are severely burnt and families are in the process of trying to identify them."

Protests against President Marc Ravalomanana's government since the weekend have created a political crisis on the Indian Ocean island and brought the worst scenes of violence for years.

The opposition, led by Antananarivo mayor Andry Rajoelina, says the president has become over-authoritarian and is failing the poor. The catalyst for the latest protests was when the government closed the mayor's private TV station last December.

"The president has lost legitimacy. There is not a single town where we are not hearing of troubles. This is a national crisis," said Antananarivo deputy mayor Hery Nirhy-Lanto.

"We demand a transitional government which will have to represent the majority's will and should not include any members of the current government," he told Reuters.

The unrest is marring Madagascar's image as a tourist haven and a secure environment for foreign firms to carry out oil and minerals exploration.

"FRUSTRATIONS GROWING"

An Africa analyst said the government was facing a serious threat, given Madagascar's volatile history.

"Civil unrest has led to changes in the past, for example the ousting of (former president) Didier Ratsiraka in 2002," said Kissy Agyeman, of UK-based IHS Global Insight.

"There is rising support for the mayor at a time when frustrations are growing."

With the army on the streets, and the smell of burned buildings still filling the air, Antananarivo residents formed long queues outside the few stores still open to try to stock up on essentials such as oil and rice.

"I had to open today to try and recover losses from the last two days," said Andry Rafamantanantsoa from behind the till in his small general store.

Police commander Raqotonandrasana said he had heard reports of deaths outside Antananarivo, but could not confirm numbers

Rajoelina's deputy said that if the president did not agree to step aside then the opposition would offer a formula that would involve suspending the constitution.

"The president would stay in place, but he would cede all his powers to the transitional government," Nirhy-Lanto said.

Ravalomanana has presided over a period of sustained economic growth since he came to power in 2002. But critics say he has failed to tackle the country's high levels of poverty.