Sawt Falasteen - Madagascar president taps general for PM in bid to defuse protests

In the latest near-daily youth-led march since September 25, security forces dispersed hundreds of demonstrators with tear gas in Madagascar's capital Antananarivo Monday, injuring at least one, AFP reporters saw.

First sparked by anger against persistent water and power cuts in the impoverished Indian Ocean island, the demonstrations have grown into an anti-government movement calling for Rajoelina to resign.

"With wisdom, I have decided to appoint Ruphin Fortunat Dimbisoa Zafisambo, Divisional General, as Prime Minister of the government," said Rajoelina late Monday.

The new premier should "serve the people" and be "someone clean, with integrity, and who works quickly", Rajoelina said, speaking from the presidential palace.

Though the president promised he was "ready to save Madagascar", Rajoelina's move to sack his entire government last week failed to placate the demonstrators.

Stun grenades and tear gas stopped two marches of hundreds of people in Antananarivo, with a heavy security presence on the 12th day of the movement, rallied on social media by a group called Gen Z Mada.

University students and local residents gathered near the University of Ankatso on the outskirts of the capital on Monday before marching towards the city centre, where they were stopped by a security force barricade.

Clashes punctuated the afternoon, with at least one young man wounded and evacuated to the main hospital, AFP reporters saw.

"There are about 120 hours of power cuts per week where I live," said 21-year-old protester Tommy Fanomezantsoa.

"We are protesting for everyone's sake," he told AFP. "The president is not listening to the anger of the people at the bottom. He always does what he wants."

- Deadly clashes -

The Ankatso district was the birthplace of a 1972 revolt that led to the ousting of the first president of the poverty-stricken island, Philibert Tsiranana.

"The future of this country depends on me, on you, on all of us," one of the protest leaders told the crowd of several hundred people, urging them not to allow the movement to lose momentum.

"We can clearly see that democracy in Madagascar is not respected at all," said another protest leader.

"They are even destroying it with brutality," he said.

He was referring to a United Nations statement last week that at least 22 people had been killed in the protests and more than 100 wounded, a figure rejected by the authorities.

The UN also condemned what it called a heavy-handed response by security forces, including the use of live ammunition.

AFP journalists witnessed a pregnant woman going into convulsions as crowds of people, including many children, fled from police in the hilly cobbled streets of Amparibe neighbourhood.

Local media also reported a protest in the southern city of Toliara, where demonstrators burned tyres.

- 'Continue until results' -

Ahead of General Zafisambo's appointment, some were unimpressed by Rajoelina's promise of a change of prime minister.

"We don't want him to listen to people in his office, we want him to get out on the ground," said Fanomezantsoa, a demonstrator who has been unemployed since the supermarket where he worked was looted on the first night of the protests.

"We will continue until we get results," he said.

The Christian Council of Churches of Madagascar (FFKM) has said it is prepared to mediate between the government and protesters.

The Gen Z movement has taken inspiration from similar youth-led movements in Bangladesh, Nepal and Indonesia, waving a pirate flag from the Japanese manga comic One Piece.

Despite its natural resources, Madagascar remains among the world's poorest countries.

Nearly three-quarters of its population of 32 million were living below the poverty line in 2022, according to the World Bank.

Corruption is widespread and the country ranks 140th out of 180 in Transparency International's index, which ranks countries by their perceived level of public sector corruption.

Y.Zaher--SF-PST