Madagascar’s government has accused unidentified forces of attempting to overthrow the president, a day after elite military troops publicly sided with demonstrators demanding his resignation.
In a statement, President Andry Rajoelina on Sunday said an “an attempted illegal and forcible seizure of power” was taking place, without offering any evidence.
The statement came amid mounting pressure on Rajoelina to resign following weeks of antigovernment protests.
On Saturday, military personnel from the CAPSAT, an army support unit – the same soldiers who brought President Andry Rajoelina to power through a 2009 coup – urged their comrades to stop following orders and instead back the youth-led uprising.
“We have become bootlickers,” some members of the unit said in a video posted on social media. “We have chosen to submit and execute orders, even illegal ones, instead of protecting the population and their property.”
“Do not obey orders from your superiors. Point your weapons at those who order you to fire on your comrades in arms because they will not take care of our families if we die,” they said.
Prime Minister Ruphin Fortunat Zafisambo, a military general appointed after Rajoelina dismissed his predecessor under pressure from demonstrators, said the government was “fully ready to listen and engage in dialogue with all factions – youth, unions or the military”.
Madagascar’s army has a long history of intervening in politics during crises. Since independence, it has backed or led several power shifts, including coups in the 1970s and in 2009, when it helped oust President Marc Ravalomanana and bring reformist mayor Andry Rajoelina to power.
Though the military has stayed mostly in the background in recent years, it remains an influential force in the country’s often fragile political landscape.
The current protests began in late September as rallies against chronic water and electricity shortages but have escalated into the gravest threat to Rajoelina’s authority since he won a disputed second term in 2023.
About a third of Madagascar’s 30 million people have access to electricity, according to the International Monetary Fund. Daily power cuts are a norm on the island, sometimes lasting eight hours or more.
“People don’t have refrigeration for medication, don’t have water for basic hygiene, and then there’s massive corruption,” Ketakandriana Rafitoson, the global vice chair of Transparency International, told Reuters.
The United Nations says at least 22 people have been killed and more than 100 injured since the protests erupted on September 25, though the government disputes these figures.
The announcement by members of the CAPSAT unit marked a dramatic turn in the country’s weeklong political crisis.
After the soldiers broke ranks and they escorted thousands of protesters into Antananarivo’s May 13 Square, a symbolic site for political uprisings that had been sealed off and heavily guarded throughout the last few weeks.
Videos shared online showed CAPSAT troops addressing crowds outside the capital’s town hall, with demonstrators and military personnel standing together atop a destroyed police vehicle.
Demonstrators, most of them young people and university students, are demanding Rajoelina resign, apologize to the nation, and dissolve the Senate and electoral commission.
The protesters, organized under the banner “Gen Z Madagascar,” have rejected repeated government offers for talks, saying in a statement: “We do not reach out to a regime that every day crushes those who stand up for justice.”
The movement, which has drawn inspiration from youth-led protests that toppled governments in Nepal and Sri Lanka, has adopted a pirate skull and crossbones symbol from the Japanese anime series “One Piece,” redesigned with a traditional Malagasy hat.
