Madagascar's military coup leader says he's the president now

Madagascar's armed services coup leader said midweek that he is "taking the place of chairwoman" in an question with The Associated Press at his barracks.

Col. Michael Randrianirina, who led a rebellion by soldiers that ousted President Andry Rajoelina, said he expects to be sworn in as the Indian Ocean country's new leader in the next few days.

Randrianirina announced Tuesday that the armed forces were taking power in Madagascar, capping weeks of protests against Rajoelina and his government by mainly youth groups calling themselves "Gen Z Madagascar."

The protesters have demanded better government and more opportunities in a country with deep problems with poverty, echoing consequential youth-led protests elsewhere in the world.

Randrianirina said he is taking the role as head of state after the country's High Constitutional Court invited him to do so in the absence of Rajoelina, who fled Madagascar following the uprising.

Randrianirina said Tuesday the military was dissolving all institutions except the lower house of parliament. He told reporters a committee led by the military would rule the country for a period of up to two years alongside a transitional government before organizing new elections.

The United Nations said last week at least 22 people had been killed as a result of the protests in Antananarivo and other major cities in the country of about 30 million people. Protests reached a turning point on Saturday when Randrianirina and soldiers from his elite military unit rebelled against Rajoelina and joined demonstrations calling for the president to step down, forcing Rajoelina to flee.

"We had to take responsibility yesterday because there is nothing left in the country, no president, no president in the senate, no government," Randrianirina said.

The colonel added the military leadership was "accelerating" the appointment of a new prime minister "so that the crisis in the country does not last forever." He did not give an exact timeframe for that to happen.

Rajoelina, who has been president since 2018, said he had fled to a safe place in fear for his life after the rebellion by Randrianirina's soldiers. He has rejected the military takeover as an illegal coup attempt by a rebel faction.

Randrianirina became a vocal critic of Rajoelina in recent years and was arrested on suspicion of instigating an army mutiny in November 2023, for which he was charged, brought before court and sent to prison all on the same day. He was released in February 2024, after being given a suspended sentence and returned to his military unit.

Randrianirina said the new military leadership would quickly appoint a new prime minister who would form a government, but didn't give an exact time frame for that to happen.

"What I can say is that we are already accelerating it so that the crisis in the country does not last forever," the colonel said.

Madagascans have seen their country roiled by several coups and attempted coups since gaining independence from France in 1960.

The Indian Ocean island has also struggled with high levels of poverty ever since, with the World Bank estimating that GDP per capita has nearly halved between independence in 1960 and 2020. Corruption has flourished as well, with the country plummeting from 118th to 140th in the most recent rankings of Transparency International's corruption index.

A 2009 military-led coup brought Rajoelina to power as a transitional leader, when the president had cast himself as a champion of the youth.

There was no significant immediate reaction to the takeover by the international community or the African Union, which had called an emergency meeting for its security council on Tuesday.

Some analysts have described the weekslong youth uprising in Madagascar as an expression of grievances over government failures and condemned the military takeover.

"Gen-Zers in Madagascar have been on the streets of the country protesting the lack of essential services, especially water and electricity, and the negative impact on their lives for almost a month," said Olufemi Taiwo, professor of Africana studies at Cornell University. "This is a civil society uprising and its resolution should not involve the military."

Taiwo called for the African Union to condemn another coup that Africa "does not need," adding that no country should recognize the new military leadership.

French President Emmanuel Macron on Monday would not confirm whether his government helped Rajoelina flee.

"What I want to express here is our deep concern, and to affirm France’s friendship with the Madagascar people," said Macron.

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