{"id":195219,"date":"2025-10-12T15:53:08","date_gmt":"2025-10-12T15:53:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/195219\/"},"modified":"2025-10-12T15:53:08","modified_gmt":"2025-10-12T15:53:08","slug":"madagascars-president-says-illegal-power-grab-by-military-is-under-way-madagascar","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/195219\/","title":{"rendered":"Madagascar\u2019s president says illegal power grab by military is under way | Madagascar"},"content":{"rendered":"

Madagascar\u2019s president said an \u201cattempt to seize power illegally and by force\u201d was under way, as an elite military unit that joined protesters on the streets on Saturday<\/a> announced it was taking over the army.<\/p>\n

The Capsat unit\u2019s intervention comes after weeks of youth-led protests, which started on 25 September against water and electricity shortages and expanded to calling for the resignation of the president, Andry Rajoelina, an end to corruption and radical overhaul of the political system.<\/p>\n

Rajoelina said he was \u201cin the country \u2026 managing national affairs\u201d, in a statement released on Sunday morning. The newly appointed prime minister, Ruphin Fortunat Zafisambo, had said on state television on Saturday night that the government was \u201cfully ready to listen and engage in dialogue with all factions \u2013 youth, unions or the military\u201d.<\/p>\n

Rajoelina said: \u201cThe presidency of the republic wishes to inform the nation and the international community that an attempt to seize power illegally and by force, contrary to the constitution and to democratic principles, is currently under way.\u201d<\/p>\n

Soldiers from Capsat , which brought Rajoelina to power in a coup in 2009<\/a>, said on Sunday morning that they were taking command of the military, according to a videoed statement<\/a> shared by local news organisations. It was not immediately clear whether the rest of the military was submitting to Capsat\u2019s control on the Indian Ocean island of about 32 million people.<\/p>\n

On Saturday, Capsat said it would not fire on protesters and called on the rest of the military to \u201cjoin forces\u201d in refusing. Late in the afternoon, members of the unit left heir base in Soanierana district, in the south of the capital, Antananarivo, driving in armoured vehicles to the symbolic May 13 Square, about 3 miles to the north, accompanied by thousands of cheering protesters.<\/p>\n

A Capsat general said on Saturday that one of their soldiers had been killed by the gendarmerie, police under the command of the defence ministry, and a journalist had been shot in the buttocks. The UN said at least 22 people were killed at the start of the protests in September, but Rajoelina disputed this last week, saying 12 \u201clooters and vandals\u201d had died.<\/p>\n

The protests were initially coordinated by Gen Z Madagascar<\/a>, a leaderless group of young people who had been inspired by similar \u201cgen Z\u201d protests in Indonesia and Nepal<\/a>, where the government was overthrown.<\/p>\n

Rajoelina fired his government<\/a> on 29 September in response to the initial demonstrations. However, Gen Z Madagascar rejected this as insufficient, calling for the resignation of the president, as well as the leader of parliament and constitutional court judges, while protesters on the streets continued to shout, \u201cMiala Rajoelina!\u201d (Leave Rajoelina!).<\/p>\n

Some young activists expressed concern on Saturday about Capsat\u2019s intervention, with one calling the soldiers, and opposition politicians who joined them in May 13 Square, \u201cdangerous\u201d.<\/p>\n

Madagascar is one of the world\u2019s poorest countries, with a GDP per capita of just $545 last year<\/a>, according to the World Bank. The precious gem- and vanilla-rich nation was ranked 140 out of 180<\/a> countries in Transparency International\u2019s 2024 corruption perceptions index.<\/p>\n

Agence France-Presse contributed to this report<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Madagascar\u2019s president said an \u201cattempt to seize power illegally and by force\u201d was under way, as an elite…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":195220,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[49,50,51,47,52,48],"class_list":{"0":"post-195219","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-headlines","8":"tag-headlines","9":"tag-news","10":"tag-top-news","11":"tag-top-stories","12":"tag-topnews","13":"tag-topstories"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/195219","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=195219"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/195219\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/195220"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=195219"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=195219"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=195219"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}