Here is a look at events in Madagascar since former President Marc Ravalomanana was forced out in March 2009 after weeks of protests and violence:
March 17, 2009 - Coup instigator Andry Rajoelina takes power with the support of the army after Ravalomanana is forced out following opposition protests. At least 135 people were killed in the protests.
March 18 - Madagascar's Constitutional Court issues a statement endorsing the takeover.
March 21 - Rajoelina sworn in as president.
March 31 - Southern African Development Community suspends Madagascar.
June 3 - Ravalomanana is sentenced in absentia to four years in jail for abuse of office.
Aug. 9 - Island's power-brokers sign initial power-sharing deal in Mozambique's capital Maputo. Three weeks later a second round of talks ends without agreement.
Sept. 4 - Rajoelina unilaterally names Monja Roindefo as prime minister. Days later Roindefo forms a government which African nations are quick to reject.
Oct. 6 - Rajoelina bows to international pressure and sacks Roindefo.
Oct. 11 - Rajoelina appoints Eugene Mangalaza as a consensus prime minister.
Nov. 7 - Rajoelina and Ravalomanana sign a deal in Addis Ababa whereby Rajoelina would remain president, but accompanied by two new co-presidents. Ravalomanana had rejected any accord which would have seen his successor retain sole leadership of the oil and mineral-endowed country. There are instant disputes over the division of executive power. The African Union suspension remains.
Dec. 8 - Rajoelina rejects an agreement on the make-up of a unity government that was struck by his rivals in neighbouring Mozambique and said it was tantamount to a coup d'etat. Ravalomanana and former Presidents Didier Ratsiraka and Albert Zafy agree to press ahead with the formation of a unity government. Rajoelina blocks their return to Madagascar.
Dec. 18 - Opposition leaders allowed to return. Rajoelina fires consensus prime minister. Opposition leaders say they will set up unity government within days.
Dec. 20 - Rajoelina appoints army Colonel Vital Albert Camille as new prime minister.
Feb. 12, 2010 - Vice Prime Minister Ny Hasina Andriamanjato resigns in a sign of growing divisions within the government.
May 12 - Rajoelina says he will not contest presidential elections in a bid to end the political crisis.
Aug. 14 - Rajoelina signs a deal with dozens of minor parties aimed at ending the political crisis, but the pact is rejected by the country's main opposition leaders.
Aug. 28 - A Madagascar court sentences deposed leader Ravalomanana in absentia to forced labour for the deaths of dozens of protesters during a Feb. 2009 march on the presidential palace in which 30 people were killed.
Nov. 17 - Madagascar holds a referendum on a new draft constitution lowering the minimum age for a president to 35, allowing Rajoelina to stay in office until new elections.
Sept. 17, 2011 - Rajoelina signs a political road map that allows for the unconditional return of his exiled predecessor ahead of elections within a year.
Nov. 21 - Rajoelina names a new government, but the opposition immediately rejects the cabinet as illegal, throwing into question the road map towards an election. The previous interim government had resigned in October as part of a move required under the terms of the September deal.
Nov. 25 - Former President Didier Ratsiraka returns to Madagascar after nine years in exile in France and calls for a reconciliation summit.
Jan. 21, 2012 - Ravalomanana arrives back where he started after a plane flying him home was ordered to turn around mid-flight and returns to Johannesburg's main international airport.
July 22 - The army storms a military barracks 10km (6.2 miles) from the capital in order to quell a mutiny, killing the corporal who led it and arresting a number of mutineers.
-- Rajoelina and Ravalomanana will hold new talks in the Seychelles this week. (Reporting by David Cutler, London Editorial Reference Unit)
(Editing by Pravin Char)
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