Antananarivo (Reuters) – Madagascar’s president said on Sunday the African country was trying to seize power by force as more soldiers joined a youth-led protest movement that has rocked the former French colony for more than two weeks.
Soldiers from the elite CAPSAT unit, which helped President Andry Rajoelina seize power in a 2009 coup, urged their comrades on Saturday to disobey orders and support youth-led protests. The protests began on September 25, posing the most serious challenge to Rajoelina’s rule since his re-election in 2023.
CAPSAT officials said on Sunday that they direct security operations in the country and would coordinate all military components at the base on the outskirts of the capital Antananarivo. They said they had appointed General Demosthenes Piculas as head of the army.
The paramilitary gendarmerie forces that have so far responded to protests alongside police also broke with the government on Sunday.
“Any use of force and any misconduct against our compatriots is prohibited because the Gendarmerie is a force designed to protect the people and not to defend the interests of a few,” the National Gendarmerie Intervention Force said in a statement broadcast by Real TV.
The company said it is coordinating with CAPSAT headquarters.
The Ministry of Defense and the Army General Staff declined to comment.
A Reuters witness saw three people wounded after a shooting on the road leading to the CAPSAT military camp on Sunday. Other witnesses said there was no sign that the clashes were continuing.
Rajoelina’s office said in a statement posted on the president’s official social media account that “illegal and forcible attempts to seize power” were underway, adding that the president urged “dialogue to resolve the crisis.”
Rajoelina’s whereabouts were unknown on Sunday, but late Saturday his office said he and the prime minister had “full control of the country’s affairs.”
Gen Z protesters want president to step down
The protests, inspired by Gen Z-led movements in Kenya and Nepal, initially started over water and electricity shortages but have since spread, with demonstrators demanding Rajoelina step down, apologize for violence against protesters and dissolve the Senate and Electoral Commission.
Some demonstrators wore T-shirts and flags with the same symbol – a skull wearing a straw hat from the Japanese manga series “One Piece” – used by youth-led demonstrators in countries including Indonesia and Peru.
Thousands of protesters gathered in Antananarivo on Sunday to protest against the government and pay tribute to a slain CAPSAT soldier who the army force said was killed by gendarmerie on Saturday.
The peaceful rally was attended by church leaders and opposition politicians, including former President Marc Ravalomanana, as well as CAPSAT troops.
According to the World Bank, Madagascar has an average age of less than 20 years and a population of about 30 million, three-quarters of whom live in poverty.
A video broadcast by local media showed dozens of soldiers leaving a military camp on Saturday to escort thousands of protesters into Antananarivo’s May 13th Square, the site of many political uprisings and which has been heavily guarded and off-limits during the unrest.
African Union Commission Chairman Mahmoud Ali Yusuf called for calm and restraint.
Taking into account the local security situation, Air France-KLM France suspended flights between Paris Charles de Gaulle Airport and Antananarivo from October 11 to 13.
(Reporting by Lovasoa Rabary; Writing by Ammu Kannampilly; Editing by Bernadette Baum and Helen Popper)
