An elite Madagascar military unit announced on Tuesday that it had taken control of the Indian Ocean nation after the national assembly voted to impeach President Andry Rajoelina following weeks of anti-government protests.
Rajoelina, reportedly in hiding outside the country, had refused late Monday to step down in response to a protest movement that began on September 25 and gained the support of the CAPSAT military unit over the weekend.
CAPSAT commander Colonel Michael Randrianirina read a statement at the presidential palace suspending the constitution and declared that the unit would establish a governing committee composed of officers from the army, gendarmerie, and national police.
“Perhaps in time it will include senior civilian advisers. It is this committee that will carry out the work of the presidency,” Randrianirina said. “At the same time, after a few days, we will set up a civilian government.”
“We have taken power,” he confirmed to AFP afterwards.
Following the announcement, officers from the unit drove through the capital in armored Humvees and pick-up trucks en route to their base, where hundreds of soldiers stood in formation to receive them, AFP journalists reported.
Crowds lined the streets, cheering and waving as they passed, while some followed the convoy in their own cars, honking their horns in a victory lap through a city still tense.
The constitutional court later confirmed Randrianirina’s authority and declared the presidency vacant. Under Madagascar’s constitution, the top court must validate the president’s impeachment for it to take effect.
However, the presidency denounced the military’s action as “a clear act of attempted coup” that it did not recognize.
“The President of the Republic remains fully in office and ensures the maintenance of constitutional order and national stability,” it stated.
The near-daily protests, led by a youth movement called Gen Z, were sparked by anger over power and water shortages, evolving into a movement against the president and ruling elite.
The situation escalated over the weekend when CAPSAT — which played a major role in the 2009 coup that first brought Rajoelina to power — joined the demonstrators, followed by the gendarmerie which admitted to “faults and excesses” in their attempts to suppress the demonstrations, which resulted in several deaths.
Parliamentarians continued with the vote to impeach Rajoelina for desertion of duty despite a presidential decree ordering the dissolution of the national assembly.
The vote passed with 130 votes in favor — well above the two-thirds constitutional threshold required. The presidency said the session was “devoid of any legal basis.”
Amid reports of leaving the country with France’s assistance, Rajoelina — who holds French nationality — stated in a national address late Monday that he was in a “safe place to protect my life.”
While not revealing his location, some reports suggested he might have gone to Dubai.
Emphasizing his refusal to step down, Rajoelina stated he was “on a mission to find solutions” to the political crisis and would not let the impoverished nation “destroy itself.”
At a new rally outside city hall on Tuesday, demonstrators expressed anger at France, the colonial ruler until independence in 1960, accusing it of interfering in the island’s affairs.
“It’s like they’re colonizing us again,” said civil engineer Koloina Rakotomavonirina, 26. “We want them to leave our island for good.”
“They are taking the piss,” said 29-year-old orthodontist Ramalanjaona Valimbavaka Bien Aime.
The United Nations reported at least 22 people killed in the early days of the protests, but the government dismissed the toll, claiming only a dozen looters and vandals had died.
To try to calm the protests, Rajoelina dismissed his entire government last month. Meeting one of the protesters’ demands, the president of the Senate was replaced.
