Brussels - The European Union will not deal with a new government in Madagascar that seizes power through violent means, officials in Brussels warned on Monday.

"The EU of course rejects acts of violence. If a new head of state is lifted to office through violent means and against the constitution, we will not recognize them," said Czech Foreign Minister Karel Schwarzenberg, whose country holds the EU's rotating presidency.

Antananarivo - Firing was heard coming from the palace of Madagascar's embattled President Marc Ravalomanana Monday evening following a threat by mutinous soldiers to break through barricades erected by the president's supporters.

Around 1,000 people have rallied round the president after the opposition at the weekend took over government buildings and announced the establishment of an interim two-year government.

The president fears an attack on the palace, which is located 14 kilometres south of the capital Antananarivo.

Antananarivo/Johannesburg  - Madagascar's opposition continued to ratchet up pressure on President Marc Ravalomanana to resign on Monday, rubbishing his proposal for a referendum and ordering his arrest for alleged constitutional violations.

But the embattled president of seven years was refusing to quit, despite losing control of the government and the army.

A defiant Ravalomanana emerged from his palace Sunday to tell supporters he still had a mandate to govern after being re-elected in 2006 and proposing that the attempt to oust him be put to a vote.

Antananarivo - Madagascar's opposition declared it had taken power Saturday without force from President Marc Ravalomanana's government and named opposition leader Andry Rajoelina as president of a transitional two-year government.

The opposition met no resistance in installing its candidate for prime minister in government offices and in taking over the president's city-centre offices Saturday.

Antananarivo - Mutinous troops in Madagascar claimed Friday to have moved tanks into the capital Antananarivo, raising fears of a further escalation in the violent six-week standoff between the president and opposition.

A spokesman for the soldiers told BBC broadcasting service said the tanks were not on the streets, but at a "secret location."

Soldiers at the country's largest barracks in the capital on Sunday began refusing orders from President Marc Ravalomanana.

Antananarivo  - A peace conference of Madagascar's political parties and civic groups that had been scheduled to start Thursday was postponed indefinitely after opposition leader Andry Rajoelina refused to participate, organizers said.

The Council of Christian Churches in Madagascar, which was tasked by the United Nations with organizing the three-day conference aimed at ending six weeks of unrest on the island, said the dialogue had been postponed "until later."