Madagascar's military takes control of the country after president goes into hiding

MADAGASCAR’S MILITARY HAS taken control of the state after its embattled president fled the country and went into hiding.

An elite military unit told the AFP news agency today that it had taken power after the national assembly voted to impeach President Andry Rajoelina for desertion of duty.

The 51-year-old president had refused growing demands to step down, going into hiding after weeks of anti-government street demonstrations in the island nation.

“We have taken power,” Colonel Michael Randrianirina, head of the CAPSAT military unit, told AFP after reading out a statement at a government building in the capital.

The unit, which has denied staging a coup, will set up a committee composed of officers from the army, gendarmerie and national police, he said.

CAPSAT played a major role in the 2009 coup that first brought Rajoelina to power.

“Perhaps in time it will include senior civilian advisers. It is this committee that will carry out the work of the presidency,” Randrianirina said in his statement.

“At the same time, after a few days, we will set up a civilian government,” he said.

The announcement came minutes after the lower house of parliament voted to impeach Rajoelina in a session dismissed by the presidency as “devoid of any legal basis”.

Just hours earlier, Rajoelina had dissolved the national assembly by decree to block the session.

The impeachment passed with 130 votes in favour – well above the two-thirds constitutional threshold required in the 163-member chamber.

The High Constitutional Court has to validate the vote.

Advertisement

Le Monde reported that the French government had assisted Rajoelina in making his escape.  

Rajoelina, a former mayor of the capital Antananarivo, said yesterday he was sheltering in a “safe space” after attempts on his life, without revealing his location.

The protests began on 25 September and reached a pivotal point at the weekend when mutinous soldiers and security forces, including CAPSAT, joined the demonstrators and called for the president and other government ministers to step down.

Madagascar has been rocked by weeks of demonstrations led by young protesters.

The youth-led protests first erupted last month over electricity and water outages but have snowballed into larger dissatisfaction with the government and the leadership of Mr Rajoelina.

Protesters have brought up a range of issues, including poverty and the cost of living, access to tertiary education, and alleged corruption by government officials and their families and associates.

Madagascar – a former French colony with a history of military-backed coups since independence in 1960 – is in the midst of its worst political crisis since the coup of 2009.

In that uprising, Rajoelina had led large anti-government protests that resulted in then-president Marc Ravalomanana losing power and going into exile.

The protesters have said they were inspired by other youth-led movements that toppled leaders in Nepal and Sri Lanka.

Thousands of young protesters continued their anti-government demonstrations in Madagascar today by packing into a main square in Antananarivo and repeating their calls for Rajoelina to resign.

Madagascar has problems with poverty, which affects around 75% of the population of 31 million people, according to the World Bank.

“We do not get a constant supply of electricity and water from the government,” said one protester, Soavololona Faraniaina.

“If Madagascan children are studying in darkness where will the future of this nation be? Where is the wealthy Madagascar that many countries envied?”

With reporting from AFP and Press Association

Readers like you are keeping these stories free for everyone...
A mix of advertising and supporting contributions helps keep paywalls away from valuable information like this article. Over 5,000 readers like you have already stepped up and support us with a monthly payment or a once-off donation.
Learn More Support The Journal