Madagascan President Andry Rajoelina has ignored calls for his resignation by a nationwide youth-led protest movement, condemning what he perceives to be a coup plot driven by rivals.
Protesters took to the streets of the capital, Antananarivo, on Friday after a “strategic” pause in the near-daily demonstrations led by a movement known as “Gen Z”, which has demanded the president’s resignation over his alleged failure to deliver basic services, including water and electricity.
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At least 22 people have been killed since the protests started on September 25, according to the United Nations. On Friday, police fired tear gas to disperse marchers in the capital, footage from Real TV Madagasikara showed.
“No one benefits from the destruction of the nation. I am here, I stand here ready to listen, ready to extend a helping hand and … to bring solutions to Madagascar,” Rajoelina said in a speech broadcast on his Facebook page.
He said, without providing evidence, that some politicians were plotting to take advantage of the protests and had considered staging a coup while he was addressing the United Nations in New York last week.
“What I want to tell you is that some people want to destroy our country,” he said, without naming those he alleged were behind the move.
The Gen Z movement rejected Rajoelina’s speech as “senseless”, promising to take “all necessary measures” if the president did not “respond favourably” within 24 hours to its demands.
There were also protests in the northern coastal city of Mahajanga and in the southern cities of Toliara and Fianarantsoa.
Madagascar is rich in resources yet remains one of the world’s poorest countries, with 75 percent of its population of 32 million living below the poverty line in 2022, according to the World Bank.
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The recent unrest forced Rajoelina to sack his government on Monday and invite dialogue. In a post on his X account at the end of the week, he said he had also met various groups for the past three days to discuss the situation.
Madagascar’s Foreign Minister Rasata Rafaravavitafika said the country faced “a massive cyberattack” and a “targeted digital manipulation campaign” launched from another country.
“According to analyses by our specialised units, this operation was initially directed from abroad by an agency with advanced technological capabilities,” she said.
She claimed that “opportunistic groups” had “infiltrated” the protests and aimed to “exploit the vulnerability of some of Madagascar’s young people”.
Rajoelina, the former mayor of Antananarivo, first came to power in 2009 following a coup sparked by an uprising that deposed former President Marc Ravalomanana.
After sitting out the 2013 election under international pressure, he was voted back into office in 2018 and re-elected in 2023.
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