Johannesburg  - Madagascar's deposed president, Marc Ravalomanana, is in Swaziland after being forced from office, according to a Swazi newspaper report Tuesday.

The Swazi Observer newspaper, quoting the Foreign Ministry of the mountain kingdom that is landlocked with South Africa, reported that Ravalomanana had arrived the previous day on an undisclosed mission.

Swazi King Mswati III currently chairs the security organ of the Southern African Development Community (SADC), of which the Indian Ocean island of Madagascar is a member.

Antananarivo  - Madagascar's President Marc Ravalomanana on Tuesday said handing over power after seven years as leader of the Indian Ocean island had been "very hard" to do as he entrusted a team of senior military officers with the running of the country.

Speaking on national TVM television, the 59-year-old leader, who looked tired after a protracted power struggle with the opposition, said the decision to give up power had been difficult because he was the "legal president."

Johannesburg - Madagascar's President Marc Ravalomanana announced Tuesday he was transferring his powers to a military directorate after coming under immense pressure to resign as leader of the impoverished Indian Ocean island.

His move, which observers say does not constitute a resignation, marks a new twist in his months-long standoff with opposition leader Andry Rajoelina.

Following is a timeline of key events in that power struggle:

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  - Madagascar's President Marc Ravalomanana and opposition leader Andry Rajoelina were set to hold substantive negotiations on the island's month-long political crisis Monday after agreeing at the weekend to avoid further confrontation.

At their first meeting Saturday, the two rivals vowed to try to defuse the tensions that have claimed over 100 lives on the Indian Ocean island since late January when the opposition began a series of mass demonstrations over Ravalomanana's rule.