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Tuesday, April 16, 2002 - Web posted at 8:41:46 pm GMT

ANTANANARIVO, April 16 (Reuters) - Madagascar's two rival presidents headed for Dakar on Tuesday to try and resolve the island's increasingly violent political crisis on neutral territory, officials and radio reports said.

As news came in that one person was killed and about 40 injured in fresh clashes on Madagascar's northwest coast, radio reports said veteran President Didier Ratsiraka set off for the Senegalese capital on Tuesday morning.

His rival for power, Marc Ravalomanana, self-declared president and popular mayor of the capital, Antananarivo, left for Dakar on Monday, his spokesman said.

It will be the first time the two men have met since Ravalomanana declared himself president on February 22, saying Ratsiraka rigged the results of December elections.

They were invited to Dakar by Senegalese President Abdoulaye Wade, who suggested a meeting on the sidelines of a development summit, to avoid a potential break-up of the giant island off southeast Africa.

Ravalomanana controls the capital, has appointed his own cabinet and has a good part of the military on his side. But the provinces remain divided and the number of violent clashes between the two camps has increased in recent weeks.

Residents in Mahajanga, the island's second largest port, said one person was killed and 40 injured on Monday when forces loyal to Ratsiraka's local governor Etienne Razafindehibe tried to break up a meeting of Ravalomanana's supporters.

Around 35 people have been killed in clashes between the two sides and observers fear pockets of war breaking out across the island.

As well as the growing human cost of the crisis, the impact on the economy of one of the world's poorest countries is catastrophic, the World Bank says.

Ratsiraka supporters have mounted blockades at ports and on roads leading to Antananarivo, to cut the capital off. The city has virtually run out of fuel, sugar, salt and other essential supplies. Export and import activity has ground to a halt.

The Organisation of African Unity has already tried to get the two sides talking with visits to Antananarivo in February and March. Both missions failed to make a breakthrough.

Ravalomanana said last month he would only talk to Ratsiraka about how to get the island back on its feet, not about his political position, which he says has been decided by the people and is not up for debate.