The African Union has suspended Madagascar “with immediate effect” after President Andry Rajoelina was impeached and the military unit seized power.
The AU commission chair Mahamoud Ali Youssouf, said on Wednesday thay “The country is suspended with immediate effect,” after Madagascar’s top court confirmed Colonel Michael Randrianirina as president.
Remember that there were weeks of popular demonstrations in the country after which President Rajoelina was impeached. The military leadership under Colonel Michael Randrianirina has however promised elections within two years.
The international community voiced alarm, with the United Nations censuring what it called an “unconstitutional” takeover.
The Indian Ocean nation was plunged into its worst political upheaval in years after the CAPSAT elite military unit took power moments after parliament voted to impeach Rajoelina on Tuesday.
The 51-year-old president who had aasumed power since 2009, fled the country as street protests escalated.
Madagascar is the latest of several former French colonies to have fallen under military control since 2020, after coups in Mali, Burkina Faso, Niger, Gabon and Guinea.
According to reports from AFP, CAPSAT commander Randrianirina will be sworn in as transitional president during a “solemn hearing” of the country’s top court on Friday, the new leadership said Wednesday.
It made the announcement in a statement attributed to the “Presidential Council for the Refoundation of the Republic of Madagascar” and signed by Randrianirina himself.
The colonel has said the transition to civilian leadership would take under two years and include the restructuring of major institutions.
“It wasn’t a coup, it was a case of taking responsibility because the country was on the brink of collapse,” Randrianirina said on Wednesday.
He pledged elections in 18 to 24 months and told local media that consultations were under way to appoint a prime minister and form a new government.
Randrianirina had long been a vocal critic of Rajoelina’s administration and was reportedly imprisoned for several months in 2023 for plotting a coup.
His swift takeover has however drawn international concern with the United Nations “deeply concerned by the unconstitutional change of power”.
The capital Antananarivo remained calm Wednesday, though uncertainty lingered over what might come next.
A concert was even held on the symbolic Place du 13 Mai square, in front of the city hall, where thousands of protesters and armed vehicles had clashed days before.
The youth-led Gen Z movement that initiated the protests on September 25 over lack of water and energy welcomed Randrianirina’s intervention.
The colonel said he is “ready to talk to the youth and we are ready to answer the call,” Gen Z said in a post on Facebook, reiterating its calls for “systemic change”.
While Rajoelina’s location remains unknown, his office reportedly said on Wednesday that the constitutional court’s decision was riddled with procedural illegalities and risked destabilising the country.
Rajoelina first came to power in a 2009 military-backed coup denounced by the international community. He was elected president in 2018 and re-elected in disputed polls in 2023.
In recent weeks he resisted mounting calls to step down, saying in a national address from an unknown location on Monday that he was seeking solutions to Madagascar’s problems.
There has been reports that he had been helped to leave with assistance from France, the former colonial power.
