Madagascar’s President Andry Rajoelina is expected to address the nation on Monday evening, his office announced on Facebook, following reports that officers backing youth-led protests have taken control of the country’s paramilitary gendarmerie.
Rajoelina had warned on Sunday of an attempted “power grab” as growing numbers of soldiers joined demonstrators in the ongoing movement that has gripped the island nation since protests began on September 25. His current whereabouts remain unclear.
According to a Reuters witness, officers supporting the protests assumed command of the gendarmerie on Monday in a ceremony attended by senior government officials, including the army minister, General Deramasinjaka Rakotoarivelo, and the army’s chief of staff, General Demosthene Pikulas.
General Nonos Mbina Mamelison, who replaced General Jean Herbert Rakotomalala as head of the gendarmerie, declared: “Exceptional situation, exceptional measures. And all the orders come from the gendarmerie command.”
The unrest, which began over local grievances such as water and electricity shortages, has rapidly escalated into the most serious challenge to Rajoelina’s rule since his 2023 re-election.
A faction of the gendarmerie that had previously worked with police to suppress protests—amid accusations of excessive force—broke ranks with the government on Sunday.
That same day, officers from the elite CAPSAT unit, which played a key role in Rajoelina’s 2009 rise to power, announced that they had seized control of the nation’s security operations and would oversee coordination of all military branches from their base on the outskirts of Antananarivo.
The CAPSAT officers said they had appointed Pikulas, formerly head of the military academy, as the new army chief, and urged other soldiers to disobey government orders and support the demonstrators.
Madagascar, a nation of about 30 million people—three-quarters of whom live in poverty—has a median age under 20. Despite being the world’s leading producer of vanilla, the country’s economy has struggled for decades, with GDP per capita falling by 45% between independence in 1960 and 2020, according to the World Bank. Other key exports include nickel, cobalt, textiles, and shrimp.
Read also…
South Africa Urges Peaceful Dialogue as Madagascar’s Political Crisis Escalates
Source:Africa Publicity
