Military colonel announces armed forces are taking control in Madagascar

A colonel in an elite military unit in Madagascar said the armed forces are taking power in the Indian Ocean nation.

His announcement came almost immediately after parliament voted to impeach President Andry Rajoelina, who has fled the country because of the rebellion by soldiers.

Colonel Michael Randrianirina said in front of reporters that the military would form a council composed of officers from the army and the gendarmerie law enforcement force.

A prime minister would be appointed to “quickly” form a civilian government, he said.

It appeared to spell the end of Mr Rajoelina’s seven years as leader of the country.

Earlier, Mr Rajoelina announced that he had dissolved the lower house of parliament, apparently to avoid being impeached. It was unclear why that was not successful. A simmering rebellion that flared over the weekend led Mr Rajoelina to flee the country and go into hiding.

Mr Rajoelina’s whereabouts are unknown after an elite military unit joined youth-led anti-government protests and called for him to step down in a coup attempt.

The 51-year-old president said in a speech broadcast on social media on Monday night that he left the country for a “safe place” in fear for his life. He did not say where he was.

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 2009, when Mr Rajoelina himself first came to power as the leader of a transitional government following a coup.

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

Mr Rajoelina has faced weeks of pressure to resign from protesters who first took to the streets on September 25. 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 on Tuesday by packing into a main square in the capital, Antananarivo, and repeating their calls for Mr 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?”

A pivotal point in the protests came on Saturday when soldiers from the elite Capsat military unit turned against Mr Rajoelina and joined the protests.

Capsat is the same powerful military unit that turned against the government in 2009, leading to Mr Rajoelina first coming to power.

The unit says it is now in charge of all of Madagascar’s armed forces, and new heads of the military and the gendarmerie security forces have been appointed.

Capsat commanders denied that they have carried out a coup and said Madagascar’s people should decide what happens next, but the unit appeared to be in a position of authority in some areas of government decision-making and Mr Rajoelina has said there has been “an attempt to seize power illegally and by force”.

There was no major violence on the streets – and soldiers riding around on armoured cars have been cheered by ordinary Madagascans – but the situation was still volatile.

In his speech on Facebook from a secret location late Monday, Mr Rajoelina said the constitution should be respected, pushing back against demands that he step down. A former mayor of the capital, he was first elected president in 2018 and was re-elected in 2023.

His speech to Madagascar’s people was meant to also be broadcast on state television and radio but was only shown on social media after soldiers arrived at the state broadcaster’s buildings shortly before the planned broadcast.