Madagascar President Accuses Military of Attempting Coup

Madagascar's president has called the attempted coup illegal, as several senior military officers who took to the streets on Saturday said they would take over from the military.

The Capsat team arrived after weeks of protests by young people, which began on September 25, against water and electricity shortages, and calling for President Andry Rajoelina to resign, end corruption, and reform the political system.

Rajoelina said he was in the country to conduct government business, in a statement released Sunday morning.

The newly appointed Prime Minister, Ruphin Fortunat Zafisambo, said on state television Saturday night that "the government is ready to listen and negotiate with all youth groups, groups or the military.

Rajoelina said: The presidency wishes to inform the people of the country and the rest of the world that an illegal coup is currently underway, which is against the constitution and the democratic process."

The Capsat army, which brought Rajoelina to power in 2009, said on Sunday morning that it was recruiting a military commander, according to a video statement shared by the country's news agencies.

Later on Sunday, General Demosthene Pikulas, the head of Capsat, was appointed as the country's chief of staff, during a ceremony at the army headquarters attended by the country's defense minister, Manantsoa Deramasinjaka Rakotoarivelo.

I give him my blessing, the minister said of Pikulas.

Pikulas told reporters after the ceremony that the events in Madagascar in recent days were not certain.

The army therefore has the responsibility to restore peace and stability throughout Madagascar, he said.

Asked if he had called on Rajoelina to resign, he declined to discuss politics at a military base.

On Saturday, Capsat said it would not open fire on protesters and called on other troops to join forces in the resistance.

Later that day, members of the force left their base in the Soanierana district south of the capital, Antananarivo, and drove armored vehicles to the May 13 square, 3 kilometers north, accompanied by thousands of protesters.

A Capsat general said on Saturday that Gendarmerie officers, the police force under the security ministry, had killed one of their soldiers and shot a journalist in the buttocks.

The United Nations said at least 22 people were killed in the first protests in September, but Rajoelina denied that claim this week, saying armed gunmen killed 12.

The protests on the Indian Ocean island of about 32 million were initially led by Gen Z Madagascar, a youth movement not involved in the Gen Z-style protests in Indonesia and Nepal, where governments have been toppled.

Rajoelina dismissed his government on September 29 in response to the first protests. But Gen Z Madagascar has denied that was enough, calling on the president, the speaker of parliament and the judges of the country’s constitutional court to resign, as protesters continued to chant Miala Rajoelina Bar Rajoelina.

Some young activists expressed concern on Saturday that the intervention of Capsat, along with some soldiers and opposition politicians who accompanied them to the May 13 rally, was dangerous.

Madagascar is one of the poorest countries in the world, with a GDP per capita of $545 last year, according to the World Bank. The vanilla-rich country ranks 140th out of 180 countries in a 2024 Transparency International Corruption Perceptions Index.