Madagascar summons French ambassador in protest over natural reserve

Madagascar's foreign ministry summoned the French ambassador on Monday to protest a proposal by Paris to turn a local archipelago into a natural reserve, the ministry said. In a statement, the Madagascar ministry said the French diplomat had been summoned "to express to him the firm opposition of the Malagasy State to the project of the government of the French Republic to create a national nature reserve on the Glorious archipelago."

Christophe Bouchard, the ambassador, did not respond to requests for comment. The islands in question have been a source of dispute between the two countries since the 1970s.