Madagascar's President Has Fled The Country After Weeks Of Protests And Now The Military Took Over Power
Capsat, an elite military unit, broke ranks and joined the protests. Rajoelina then fled the country reportedly on a french plane.
Madagascar’s president Andry Rajoelina has fled the country and the military took over power after it had joined the Gen Z protests that has been on going for weeks over corruption and lack of basic services water and electricity.
Madagascar, an island nation in the Indian Ocean, is mired in poverty, with some of the highest poverty rates globally.
Electricity and water cuts in Madagascar have been a chronic issue for several years.
Only around a third of Madagascar’s 30 million people have access to electricity and power cuts often last more than 12 hours and come with no prior warning, according to the International Monetary Fund.
Some people have blamed Rajoelina, who was re-elected in 2023, for not improving conditions, according to Reuters.
On Sept. 25, protests known as the "Leo Délestage" movement or “Fed up with load shedding", organized by "Gen Z Madagascar," a group launched in mid-September on social, erupted in the capital, Antananarivo, and other parts of the country, calling for change to stop the persistent water and electricity cuts.
Thousands of young people took to the streets in peaceful protests, holding signs with slogans such as "We are poor, angry and unhappy" and "Water and electricity are fundamental human rights."
But the protests turned violent quickly after police used tear gas and rubber bullets to disperse crowds.
At least 22 people were killed during the protests, and more than 100 others were injured.
In response, Rajoelina fired his energy minister "for not doing his job" and also imposed a dusk-to-dawn curfew from 7 pm to 5 am in the capital and other cities "until public order is restored," according to Reuters.
But protests intensified, with protesters calling for Rajoelina to resign.
On Sunday, Oct. 12, an elite military unit called CAPSAT, which previously supported Rajoelina in a 2009 coup, broke ranks with the government and joined the protesters.
This prompted Rajoelina to flee the country, with reports saying flown out of the country on Sunday evening on a French military plane, according to French broadcaster RFI, but France has not commented.
He made a statement on Monday, Oct. 13, calling for dialogue “to find a way out of this situation” and confirming he fled the country after attempts to kill him but did not reveal his location and did not resign.
Later on Tuesday, Oct. 14, Rajoelina’s office said there had been an “attempted coup d’état” adding that Rajoelina remains fully in office and dissolved the parliament in an attempt to hold onto power.
Despite Rajoelina's attempt to dissolve the parliament, the lower house of parliament impeached him, accusing him of deserting his duties amid widespread protests and political unrest.
Following the impeachment vote, the military, led by the CAPSAT unit, took control of the country.
The military suspended most governmental institutions except for the parliament and announced it was taking charge, marking a constitutional deadlock that they exploited to seize power.
Cherry Mohamed
