Sawt Falasteen - Impeached president confirms he fled Madagascar as new leader claims 'not a coup'

Colonel Michael Randrianirina from the mutinied CAPSAT military contingent has faced international criticism after the army announced Tuesday it had taken power moments after parliament voted to impeach Rajoelina.

Randrianirina is set to be sworn in on Friday as transitional president and has promised elections within two years and a civilian government.

"A coup is when soldiers enter the presidential palace with weapons, they shoot, there is bloodshed... This is not a coup," Randrianirina told journalists.

The approval of the country's top court on Tuesday of his appointment showed the takeover "follows the legal process", he said.

"Madagascar has not chosen a military regime," he said. "The government belongs to civilians. The presidential council is also composed of military and civilians."

Rajoelina, meanwhile, confirmed for the first time that he had fled Madagascar between October 11 and 12, the same weekend CAPSAT soldiers announced they would stand with the youth-led protest movement and joined them in the streets.

He left after "explicit and extremely serious threats were made against the life of the Head of State", according to a statement late Wednesday sent to AFP that did not reveal his whereabouts.

Media reports said the 51-year-old was evacuated on Sunday aboard a French military plane that took him to the French island of Reunion from where he travelled to Dubai where he has a home.

In a televised national address on Monday, Rajoelina said he had taken refuge in a "safe place" in fear of his life but gave no details.

On Tuesday, he issued a decree to dissolve the National Assembly as it prepared to vote to impeach him for desertion of duty, but parliamentarians went ahead with the vote anyway.

Rajoelina, who first came to power after a military-backed coup in 2009, accused the National Assembly of colluding with the army to remove him from office.

His office said Wednesday the constitutional court's decision to appoint the CAPSAT commander to take over was riddled with procedural illegalities and risked destabilising the former French colony, which has a turbulent political past.

- 'Behind-the-scenes negotiations' -

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.

The upheaval started with youth-led demonstrations on September 25 over lack of water and energy that were violently repressed. The United Nations said 22 people were killed in the first days, but this was disputed by Rajoelina's government.

On October 11, CAPSAT declared it would "refuse orders to shoot" at protesters, joined later by the gendarmerie.

While the Gen Z movement that initiated the protests has welcomed the military's intervention, the swift takeover has drawn international alarm.

The United Nations expressed concern at an "unconstitutional" takeover and the African Union announced Wednesday it had suspended Madagascar immediately.

Randrianirina said Thursday that the African Union's reaction was "normal" but there would be "behind-the-scenes negotiations", as well as discussions with the SADC regional bloc, which has sent in a fact-finding mission.

He has pledged elections in 18 to 24 months and told local media that consultations were under way to appoint a prime minister.

Randrianirina had long been a vocal critic of Rajoelina's administration and was reportedly imprisoned for several months in 2023 for plotting a coup.

"We are now going to work hard and very quickly so as not to disappoint the people," he said Thursday. "We are going to change many things and meet their expectations."

J.AbuHassan--SF-PST