{"id":55924,"date":"2025-10-12T11:01:56","date_gmt":"2025-10-12T11:01:56","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/madagascar-president-warns-of-coup-attempt-as-soldiers-join-protests\/"},"modified":"2025-10-12T10:48:23","modified_gmt":"2025-10-12T10:48:23","slug":"madagascar-president-warns-of-coup-attempt-as-soldiers-join-protests","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/madagascar-president-warns-of-coup-attempt-as-soldiers-join-protests\/","title":{"rendered":"Madagascar president warns of coup attempt as soldiers join protests"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>&#8220;The Presidency of the Republic wishes to inform the nation and the international community that an attempt to seize power illegally and by force, contrary to the Constitution and to democratic principles, is currently underway,&#8221; Rajoelina said in a statement released on Sunday morning.<\/p>\n<p>The warning followed dramatic scenes on Saturday when soldiers from the elite CAPSAT unit abandoned their barracks on the outskirts of the capital to join demonstrators at the historic Place du 13 Mai. This is the same unit that played a key role in the 2009 uprising that first brought Rajoelina to power. <\/p>\n<p>The troops were widely reported to have been greeted by cheering crowds as they marched into the city centre, calling on security forces to \u201crefuse orders to shoot\u201d and condemning what they described as excessive police force used against protesters.<\/p>\n<p>The protests, led largely by young people identifying with a \u201cGen Z\u201d movement, began on September 25 in response to chronic power outages and water shortages but have since morphed into a broader call for political reform. <\/p>\n<p>Demonstrators are demanding Rajoelina\u2019s resignation, an apology for violence against protesters, and the dissolution of both the Senate and the electoral commission.<\/p>\n<p>According to the United Nations, at least 22 people have been killed and more than 100 injured since the demonstrations began. The government disputes those figures, with President Rajoelina insisting that only 12 people, whom he described as \u201clooters and vandals\u201d, have died.<\/p>\n<p>Prime Minister Ruphin Zafisambo, appointed just weeks ago, urged calm and dialogue in an address on Saturday evening, saying the government \u201cremains firm but ready to collaborate and listen to all forces \u2014 the youth, unions, and the army.\u201d He warned that \u201cMadagascar will not withstand another crisis if this division among citizens continues.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The presidency also issued assurances that President Rajoelina \u201cremains in the country\u201d and is \u201cmanaging national affairs.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Madagascar has a long history of political instability and military interventions since gaining independence from France in 1960. Rajoelina himself rose to prominence during mass protests that ousted then-president Marc Ravalomanana in 2009, with the backing of the same CAPSAT unit now rebelling against him. He went on to win presidential elections in 2018 and 2023, both marred by opposition boycotts.<\/p>\n<figure class=\"spip-document spip-document-96015 aligncenter\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/en-images.igihe.com\/jpg\/imageresize-3.jpg\" alt=\"Madagascar\u2019s President Andry Rajoelina has warned of an \u201cattempt to seize power illegally and by force\u201d after a group of soldiers joined ongoing anti-government protests in the capital, Antananarivo.\" \/><\/figure>\n<figure class=\"spip-document spip-document-96014 aligncenter\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/en-images.igihe.com\/jpg\/9d968edc8d1384aad1670b65f91b0d33e628b061.jpg\" alt=\"An army contingent called on soldiers at the airport to refuse orders to shoot civilians.\" \/><\/figure>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Madagascar\u2019s President Andry Rajoelina has warned of an \u201cattempt to seize power illegally and by force\u201d after a group of soldiers joined ongoing anti-government protests in the capital, Antananarivo, marking the most serious challenge to his rule since his re-election last year.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":131,"featured_media":2000096016,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[75],"byline":[192],"hashtag":[],"class_list":["post-55924","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","tag-homenews","byline-wycliffe-nyamasege"],"bylines":[{"id":192,"name":"Wycliffe Nyamasege","slug":"wycliffe-nyamasege","description":"","image":{"id":0,"url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/?s=96&d=mm&f=y&r=g","alt":"Default avatar","title":"Default avatar","caption":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","sizes":[]},"user_id":131}],"contributors":[{"id":192,"name":"Wycliffe Nyamasege","slug":"wycliffe-nyamasege","description":"","image":{"id":0,"url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/?s=96&d=mm&f=y&r=g","alt":"Default avatar","title":"Default avatar","caption":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","sizes":[]},"user_id":131}],"featured_image":{"id":2000096016,"url":"https:\/\/en-images.igihe.com\/IMG\/logo\/9d968edc8d1384aad1670b65f91b0d33e628b061logo.jpg","alt":"","caption":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","width":0,"height":0,"sizes":{"thumbnail":{"url":"https:\/\/en-images.igihe.com\/IMG\/logo\/9d968edc8d1384aad1670b65f91b0d33e628b061logo.jpg","width":1,"height":1},"medium":{"url":"https:\/\/en-images.igihe.com\/IMG\/logo\/9d968edc8d1384aad1670b65f91b0d33e628b061logo.jpg","width":1,"height":1},"medium_large":{"url":"https:\/\/en-images.igihe.com\/IMG\/logo\/9d968edc8d1384aad1670b65f91b0d33e628b061logo.jpg","width":1,"height":1},"large":{"url":"https:\/\/en-images.igihe.com\/IMG\/logo\/9d968edc8d1384aad1670b65f91b0d33e628b061logo.jpg","width":1,"height":1},"full":{"url":"https:\/\/en-images.igihe.com\/IMG\/logo\/9d968edc8d1384aad1670b65f91b0d33e628b061logo.jpg","width":0,"height":0}}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/55924","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/131"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=55924"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/55924\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2000096016"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=55924"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=55924"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=55924"},{"taxonomy":"byline","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/byline?post=55924"},{"taxonomy":"hashtag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/hashtag?post=55924"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}