Madagascar vows to install colonel as president after takeover

Military officers who seized power in Madagascar in a protest crisis said their leader would be sworn in as the country's new president on Friday.

The military leadership under Colonel Michael Randrianirina has promised elections within two years after President Andry Rajoelina was impeached following weeks of popular demonstrations.

The international community voiced alarm, with the United Nations censuring what it called an "unconstitutional" takeover.

The poor Indian Ocean nation was plunged into its worst political upheaval in years after the CAPSAT elite military unit took power moments after parliament voted to impeach Rajoelina on Tuesday.

The 51-year-old president, in power since 2009, appeared to have fled the country as street protests escalated.

Madagascar is the latest of several former French colonies to have fallen under military control since 2020, after coups in Mali, Burkina Faso, Niger, Gabon and Guinea.

CAPSAT commander Randrianirina will be sworn in as transitional president during a "solemn hearing" of the country's top court on Friday, the new leadership said Wednesday.

It made the announcement in a statement attributed to the "Presidential Council for the Refoundation of the Republic of Madagascar" and signed by Randrianirina himself.

The colonel has said the transition to civilian leadership would take under two years and include the restructuring of major institutions.

"It wasn't a coup, it was a case of taking responsibility because the country was on the brink of collapse," Randrianirina said on television earlier Wednesday.

He pledged elections in 18 to 24 months and told local media that consultations were under way to appoint a prime minister and form a new government.

- International concern -

Randrianirina had long been a vocal critic of Rajoelina's administration and was reportedly imprisoned for several months in 2023 for plotting a coup.

His swift takeover drew international concern.

The African Union on Wednesday told AFP it was suspending Madagascar "with immediate effect".

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The United Nations said they were "deeply concerned by the unconstitutional change of power".

The capital Antananarivo remained calm Wednesday, though uncertainty lingered over what might come next.

A concert was held on the symbolic Place du 13 Mai square, in front of the city hall, where thousands of protesters and armed vehicles had clashed days before.

The youth-led Gen Z movement that initiated the protests on September 25 over lack of water and energy welcomed Randrianirina's intervention.

The colonel had said he is "ready to talk to the youth and we are ready to answer the call," Gen Z said in a post on Facebook, reiterating its calls for "systemic change".

"We're worried about what comes next, but we're savouring this first victory that gave us hope," 26-year-old Fenitra Razafindramanga, captain of Madagascar's national rugby team, told AFP. 

In the northern city of Antsiranana, an entrepreneur who identified herself only as Muriella was relieved that Rajoelina was no longer in power.

"It feels like we've just been released from prison," she told AFP, adding: "This is also a message to his successor: learn from this and don't make the same mistakes."

- Rajoelina's location unknown -

Rajoelina's office said on Wednesday the constitutional court's decision was riddled with procedural illegalities and risked destabilising the country. 

"This decision, tainted by multiple defects in both substance and form, is illegal, irregular, and unconstitutional," it said.

Rajoelina first came to power in a 2009 military-backed coup denounced by the international community. He was elected president in 2018 and re-elected in disputed polls in 2023.

In recent weeks he resisted mounting calls to step down, saying in a national address from an unknown location on Monday that he was seeking solutions to Madagascar's problems.

Amid reports that he had been helped to leave with assistance from France, the former colonial power, he said he was in a "safe place to protect my life".

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