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Madagascar President Andry Rajoelina has reportedly left the country, shortly before he was due to address the nation on state TV, following weeks of youth protests, which destabilized the country.
Andry Rajoelina, has left the country after an elite military unit turned against the government in an apparent coup, an opposition lawmaker in the Indian Ocean country said Monday. The lawmaker’s comments came shortly before Rajoelina was due to appear on national television to make a speech to the people of Madagascar.
Rajoelina’s office said that his speech would be broadcast on state television and radio at 7 p.m. local time (1600 GMT) but didn’t say if the president was still in Madagascar amid reports he had fled following weeks of deadly anti-government protests.
Those protests, which were initially led by youth groups, reached a turning point on Saturday when soldiers from the elite CAPSAT military unit accompanied demonstrators to a square in the capital, Antananarivo, and called for Rajoelina and several government ministers to leave office.
The unit, which helped Rajoelina first come to power as transitional leader in a military-backed coup in 2009, said that it had taken charge of all the armed forces in Madagascar.
Siteny Randrianasoloniaiko, the leader of the opposition in parliament, said that Rajoelina “ran away” from the country on Sunday after soldiers turned against him.
Rajoelina’s office said on Sunday that “an attempt to seize power illegally and by force” was underway in the nation of 31 million off the east coast of Africa. Rajoelina’s current whereabouts are unknown and a spokesperson for the president didn’t respond to phone calls and messages.
French state radio RFI reported that Rajoelina was evacuated on a French military plane after agreeing a deal with President Macron.
The French Embassy in Antananarivo issued a statement saying that “no French military intervention is underway or planned in Madagascar, whose sovereignty and territorial integrity France fully respects.”
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Madagascar is a former French colony, while Rajoelina reportedly has French citizenship, which has previously been a source of discontent among Madagascans.
