Madagascar’s president says illegal power grab by military is under way

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2025/oct/12/madagascar-president-says-power-grab-military-under-way

11 comments

  1. So a president who got to power through a coup is now saying a coup is illegal?

    I’m saying this half-jokingly, half-seriously, I hope it’s not going to be another brutal civil war in Africa.

  7. Is the same president from 10 years ago that was previously a DJ and made a campaign by gifting t-shirts with his face?

  8. Madagascar’s president Andry Rajoelina has been in power for 12 of the last 16 years, and himself came to power in a coup that led to 4.5 years of isolation from the international community and the worsening of the economic situation of what is already one of the poorest countries in the world. Since his return to power in 2018, he’s done nothing to alleviate the desperate poverty his countrymen and -women experience on a daily basis. Instead of investing state funds in basic infrastructure like power generation capacity, consistent clean water delivery, educational reforms (the current primary school curriculum is the same as the French colonial one from 1960), he’s spent money loaned to the state in vanity legacy building projects such as a new mall, a cable car system (that goes nowhere useful, costs half a day’s wages to ride, and officially only runs for 6 hours a day, though often less due to power cuts), and modern luxury apartments built by regime-friendly businessmen that lie empty because no one can afford them.

  10. Hard to think of a place atm that isn’t rife with turmoil.

  11. > A Capsat general said on Saturday that one of their soldiers had been killed by the gendarmerie, police under the command of the defence ministry.

    Yea turning on your own military force in favor of another military force is never a good idea. Just ask Sudan…

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