Malagasy National Gendarmerie
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1960 Ministry of attachment: Ministère des Forces armées Workforce: 12 399 General manager: Général de division Jean de Dieu Daniel RAMIANDRISOA Address: Commandement de la Gendarmerie nationale malgache Tél.: (+)261 34 14 019 02 Website: fr-fr.facebook.com/gn.madagascar/ Communication Manager: Colonel Solofonirina ANDRIAMANANA Email: segdcre@gendarmerie.gov.mg Responsible for international relations: Chef d’escadron Derbas BEHAVANA Email: sricgn@gmail.com 
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History
Before the independence, the French Gendarmerie is present from the phase of conquest of Madagascar in 1895 under the shape of a provost marshal/military police detachment. In 1906, the Madagascar and Independence Indigenous Guard is organized. It becomes the Madagascar Guard in 1950. The Malagasy National Gendarmerie, "Zandarimaria nasionaly" (ZN), is created by the decree n° 606102 of May 14th, 1960, which groups together the Madagascar Guard and the Malagasy gendarmes serving in the French Gendarmerie. In 1969, the first Malagasy commander of the ZN is Lieutenant-colonel Richard Ratsimandrava. In 1975, the ZN changes this naming to become "Zandarimariam-Pirenena" (ZP). In 1996, the State Secretariat in charge of the Gendarmerie (SSG) is created before being dissolved in 2002 and replaced by the General Command of the National Gendarmerie. In 2003, the naming returns to Command of the National Gendarmerie. In 2009, the SSG is restored at the Government level, but the Malagasy Gendarmerie is still under the Ministry of Armed Forces (MAF), from the statutory point of view.
Organization
The Malagasy National Gendarmerie is under the ministry of Armed forces but it is represented within the State Secretary in charge of the National Gendarmerie.
Central Organization
Territorial organization
• 6 regional districts of National Gendarmerie.
• 22 squads of gendarmes.
• Companies.
• Brigades and post.
Missions
Competent on 90% of the territory and 81% of the population, the Malagasy Gendarmerie exercises administrative police, criminal investigation and military police missions defined by the decree n° 63-253 of May 19th, 1963 on the National Gendarmerie Internal Service.
It also participates in the security of numerous sites and sensitive spots.
Staff
From the rank of the gendarme trainee to the major general’s rank, the staff of the National Gendarmerie counts at the present time 12 399 staffs among whom 847 senior officers, 4175 officers and 7377 gendarmes. The recruitment is made by competitions: every year for the trainee gendarmes since 2009, and every 2 or 3 years for the officer cadets. Since 2012, the Malagasy Gendarmerie recruits feminine gendarmes.
Training institutions
• Antsirabe Military academy: for the training of the future senior officers (direct competition); combined arms platoon (CAP): through professional competitions; Specialized Executive Military Units Platoon (PSEMU): direct or professional competition.
• Moramanga National Gendarmerie High College (ESGN) which presents various trainings:
- main gendarme training centre (Future officers),
- specialized training: automobile Instruction Centre (AIC), Criminal Investigation Technics (CIT) - Judicial Police Department (JPD) - Judiciary Inquiry/Legal Investigation (JI/LI),
- executive training and improvement: brigade commander’s advanced course (BCAC) - Criminal Investigation Section Leader (CISL) - Officers Recycling Course (ORC) - Junior Officers Advances Courses (JOAC) - Senior Officer’s Course on Command (SOCC).
• Ambositra National Gendarmerie School (ANGS) specially conceived for the future gendarmes’ training.
Main equipment
• Armament: 9 mm automatic pistols or 7.62 mm of type MAS-MAC-MAB or Pierrot-Beretta, semiautomatic Russian or Chinese assault rifles, MAS 36 French rifles.
• Vehicles: Unimog, Jeep, Toyota; motorcycles: Honda, Yamaha, Mak, Kinlon & BMW.
• Aerials means: Alouette II.
• Nautical means: Speedboats and dugouts canoes.
Cooperation
The Malagasy Gendarmerie signed cooperation agreements with several countries, but especially with France, which has 3 staffs of the French cooperation within the institution, of among whom:
• two officers, a project manager and a public in order expert officer, working in immersion within the Malagasy gendarmerie command;
• a senior officer, expert in training, is seconded to National Gendarmerie College (NGC).
The cooperation intervenes essentially in the field of the training and in particular regarding democratic management of the crowds, in professional intervention and for the training and the preparation of the gendarmes for various competitions and examinations. It recommends and participates with regard to support and staff management. It is precisely about cooperation because the Malagasy Gendarmerie participates actively in the improvement of its unit’s service.
The Malagasy Gendarmerie sends trainees to the national schools with regional vocation in Cameroon, Burkina Faso, Mali, Gabon, Benin, Niger and Senegal. Also, exchanges exist with China, India and Romania.
The Malagasy Gendarmerie participates actively in the various operations of preservation of the peace, on several theatres of operations, as well on the African continent (MONUC and MONUSCO in Congo and UNAMID in the Darfur) as on other continents (MINUSTAH in Haiti).
© The iconography was provided by the concerned gendarmeries