Madagascar’s president ousted in military coup after weeks of protests

Madagascar’s president Andry Rajoelina has been toppled in a military coup that capped weeks of youth protests over poverty, power outages and a lack of opportunity in the Indian Ocean island country.

Right after parliament voted to impeach Mr Rajoelina, who fled the country fearing for his safety, the leader of Madagascar’s elite Capsat military unit said the armed forces would form a council made up of officers from the armed forces and gendarmerie, a military unit that polices civilians, and would appoint a prime minister to “quickly” form a civilian government.

“We are taking power,” Col Michael Randrianirina told reporters in front of a ceremonial presidential palace in the capital, Antananarivo, as protesters celebrated the news with soldiers.

He said the constitution and High Constitutional Court’s powers had been suspended, and that a referendum would be held in two years.

From an undisclosed location after fleeing, Mr Rajoelina issued a decree on Tuesday trying to dissolve parliament’s lower house in an apparent attempt to pre-empt being impeached.

But legislators ignored it and voted overwhelmingly to end the rule of the 51-year-old leader, who himself came to power as a transitional leader in a military-backed coup in 2009.

Mr Rajoelina’s office released a statement condemning Col Randrianirina’s announcement as an “illegal declaration” and “a serious breach of the rule of law”.

“The Republic of Madagascar cannot be taken hostage by force. The State remains standing,” it said.

Madagascar, a sprawling island country off the east coast of southern Africa, is home to about 30 million people.

It is the world’s biggest vanilla producer and, because of its geographic isolation, is known for its biodiversity.

Since gaining its independence from French colonial rule in 1960, it has struggled to overcome poverty and political instability, including a series of coups.

Mr Rajoelina’s fall capped weeks of Gen Z-led protests that started over persistent electricity and water outages but snowballed into demonstrations of frustration with the government and the president’s leadership.

Protesters raised a range of issues, including government corruption, access to higher education, the cost of living and poverty, which affects about 75% of Madagascar’s population, according to the World Bank.

Although young people led the demonstrations, others also took part, including civic groups and unions.