Military leader sworn in as Madagascar president after coup

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Colonel Michael Randrianirina was sworn in as president of Madagascar on Friday, days after his elite military unit took over the impoverished African island nation and former president Andry Rajoelina fled the country.

Randrianirina’s inauguration at the constitutional court followed weeks of youth-led street protests against Rajoelina. In the demonstrations, sparked by water and electricity shortages, at least 22 people were killed and more than 100 injured, according to the UN.

The Capsat unit of the military took over the Indian Ocean island earlier this week after Rajoelina, who was reported to have fled the country in a French-registered jet, was impeached by parliament for dereliction of duty.

On Friday, Randrianirina, dressed in civilian clothes, said: “Today marks a historic turning point for our country.” At an inauguration attended by military officers, politicians and members of the Gen Z groups whose protests precipitated Rajoelina’s fall, he added: “We joyfully open a new chapter in the life of our nation.”

The new military government has pledged to hand power back to civilians within two years once a new constitution is drafted and electoral laws decided. Madagascar has a history of military takeovers followed by handovers to shaky civilian administrations.

Other coups since Madagascar won independence from France in 1960 took place in 1972 and then in 2009, when previous youth-led protests swept Rajoelina, then a 34-year-old disc-jockey, to power.

“I will fully, completely, and justly fulfil the high responsibilities of my position as president of the Republic of Madagascar,” Randrianirina said in a ceremony that included a small marching band and soldiers performing a traditional sword-fighting display.

Hundreds gathered to celebrate in the capital’s main square, which has been transformed from the sit-in site of anti-government demonstrations to a place for celebrating the country’s new military rulers.

“I’m a little bit nervous about what comes next,” said Olivia Tsimijaly, a student who wore a whistle round her neck as she cheered the news of the inauguration. “But we were fighting for anyone that can better our lives. It doesn’t matter who does it, so long as the job gets done.”

Randrianirina denied he had conducted a coup, saying that the constitutional court had backed the transition. But earlier this week the military dissolved most of the country’s institutions including the senate and the constitutional court where Randrianirina was later sworn in.

This week, the African Union suspended Madagascar “until constitutional order is restored”.

Representatives of Rajoelina said in a statement that some high court judges had been threatened by the military ahead of the colonel’s swearing in.

Madagascar, a Ukraine-sized island off the coast of Mozambique, is the world’s biggest exporter of vanilla and a source of gems and industrial minerals, including graphite. Swaths of its hardwood forests have been ransacked by loggers.

After years of mismanagement and volatile leadership, the island remains one of the world’s poorest countries with an annual GDP per capita of $545 in nominal terms, according to the World Bank, making it poorer theoretically than either war-torn South Sudan or the Democratic Republic of Congo.

In deforested parts of southern Madagascar, where the top soil blows away in clouds of red dust, there has been a slow-burning famine for years.

Africa has seen multiple coups in recent years, sometimes with the support of young people, though military takeovers have been concentrated in west Africa and the Sahel region.