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Madagascars new head of state on Monday named a civilian prime minister, following a military takeover last week that sent ex-president Andry Rajoelina fleeing.Army colonel Michael Randrianirina, who announced Tuesday that the military had taken power after Rajoelina was impeached for desertion of duty following weeks of protests, was sworn in as president Friday.Randrianirina promised sweeping change and new elections in the poverty-stricken island nation, where anger over chronic power cuts sparked the demonstrations last month that swiftly escalated into a mass anti-government movement.Following consultations with the national assembly, Randrianirina chose Herintsalama Rajaonarivelo, a figure of the private sector and former chairman of the Malagasy bank BNI, as new premier Monday.Rajaonarivelo had "the skills, the experience but also relations with international organisations in other countries that will collaborate with Madagascar," Randrianirina said.The new president has promised a civilian government and collaboration with "all the driving forces of the nation" after the military takeover, rejecting last week accusations of having led a coup.He said Monday that the choice of premier had "scrupulously followed the Constitution".Randrianirina led the CAPSAT army unit which mutinied on October 11, condemning violence against anti-government protesters by Rajoelina's security forces and joining the demonstrations in the capital Antananarivo.It marked a turning point in the weeks-long uprising, leading Rajoelina to flee the country.Media reports said the ousted ex-president was evacuated on Sunday aboard a French military plane that took him to the French island of Reunion, from where he travelled to Dubai.Supporters of Rajoelina have condemned the power grab, which was backed by the constitutional court.

Madagascar braced for military rule Wednesday after an elite army unit seized power following President Andry Rajoelina's impeachment, promising elections within two years as the international community voiced alarm over the crisis.The poor Indian Ocean nation was plunged into its worst political upheaval in years after the CAPSAT military contingent assumed power moments after parliament voted to impeach Rajoelina, who appeared to have fled the country as street protests escalated.It becomes the latest former French colony to fall under military control since 2020, joining coups in Mali, Burkina Faso, Niger, Gabon, and Guinea.CAPSAT commander Colonel Michael Randrianirina, confirmed as president by the top court, said the transition to civilian leadership would take under two years and include the restructuring of major institutions.Randrianirina, expected to be sworn in within days, pledged elections in 18 to 24 months and told local media on Wednesday consultations were under way to appoint a prime minister and form a new government.The transition would be overseen by a committee of officers from the army, gendarmerie and police.Randrianirina had long been a vocal critic of Rajoelina's administration and was reportedly imprisoned for several months from November 2023 for inciting military mutiny with a view to a coup.The swift takeover has drawn concern from abroad, with France, Germany, Russia and other international partners urging restraint."It is now essential that democracy, fundamental freedoms, and the rule of law be scrupulously upheld," Paris said in a statement, adding: "These principles are non-negotiable."All actors need to "act with caution in this currently somewhat confusing situation," a spokesman for the German foreign ministry said, while Russia called for "exercising restraint and preventing bloodshed."The security body of regional SADC grouping -- of which Rajoelina was holding the rotating presidency -- and the United Nations have also expressed concern."The military leaders who have seized power should respect and protect the rights of all Malagasy people," the Human Rights Watch said.The capital Antananarivo remained calm Wednesday, though uncertainty lingered over what might come next.The youth-led Gen Z movement that initiated the protests on September 25 over lack of water and energy before they later swelled into broader anger at the political elite have welcomed the intervention of Randrianirina.The colonel had said he is "ready to talk to the youth and we are ready to answer the call," Gen Z said in a post on Facebook, reiterating its calls for "systemic change"."We're worried about what comes next, but we're savouring this first victory that gave us hope," 26-year-old Fenitra Razafindramanga, captain of Madagascar's national rugby team, told AFP.In the northern city of Antsiranana, an entrepreneur who identified herself only as Muriella was relieved that Rajoelina was no longer in power."It feels like we've just been released from prison," she told AFP, adding: "This is also a message to his successor: learn from this and don't make the same mistakes."The presidency, however, denounced what it called "a clear act of attempted coup" and insisted that Rajoelina -- whose whereabouts remained unknown and who was last seen in public a week ago -- "remains fully in office."It said on Wednesday the constitutional court's decision was riddled with procedural illegalities and risked destabilising the country."This decision, tainted by multiple defects in both substance and form, is illegal, irregular, and unconstitutional," it said.Rajoelina, re-elected in disputed polls in 2023, came to power in a 2009 military-backed coup that was denounced by the international community which froze foreign aid and investment for nearly four years.He resisted mounting calls to step down, saying in a national address from an unknown location on Monday that he was seeking solutions to Madagascar's problems.Amid reports that he had been helped to leave with assistance from France, the former colonial power, he said he was in a "safe place to protect my life".

Army mutiny leader says military takes over nationDefiant Rajoelina refuses to step down after fleeing islandLower house of parliament votes to impeach himPresident had earlier moved to dissolve National AssemblyGen Z protests and army defections isolated RajoelinaMadagascar's military has taken charge of the Indian Ocean island, an army colonel said on Tuesday, after President Andry Rajoelina fled abroad during a standoff with youth-led protesters and security forces."We have taken the power," Colonel Michael Randrianirina, who led a mutiny of soldiers joining anti-government Gen Z demonstrators, said on national radio.Randrianirina added that the military was dissolving all institutions except the lower house of parliament or National Assembly, which voted to impeach Rajoelina minutes earlier.**media[368631]**In a day of turmoil for the nation off east Africa, the 51-year-old leader had sought to dissolve the assembly by decree.Despite flying out on a French military jet, Rajoelina is refusing to step down in defiance of weeks of Gen Z protests demanding his resignation and widespread defections in the army.The presidency did not immediately react to Randrianirina's comments but earlier said the assembly meeting was unconstitutional and thus any resolution "null and void."**media[368635]**Rajoelina has said he has moved to a safe place because of threats to his life. An opposition official, a military source and a foreign diplomat told Reuters he had fled the country on Sunday aboard a French military plane.Demonstrations erupted in the country on September 25 over water and power shortages and quickly escalated into an uprising over broader grievances, including corruption, bad governance and a lack of basic services. The anger mirrored recent protests against ruling elites elsewhere, including Nepal and Morocco. On Tuesday, at Antananarivo's 13 May Square, along the main drag lined with palm trees and French colonial buildings, thousands of protesters danced, marched, sang songs and waved banners denouncing Rajoelina as a French stooge because of his dual citizenship and support from Madagascar's former coloniser.**media[368630]**Many were waving Malagasy flags and the signature Gen Z protest banner of a skull and crossbones from the Japanese "One Piece" anime series.At one point, Randrianirina took stage and asked: "Are you ready to accept a military takeover?", drawing cheers of approval from the crowd.Earlier, French President Emmanuel Macron had said that constitutional order must be preserved and that while France understood the grievances of the youth, they should not be exploited by military factions.Rajoelina had appeared isolated after losing the support of CAPSAT, an elite unit which had helped him seize power in a 2009 coup. Randrianirina is a well-known commander in CAPSAT.**media[368632]**The unit had joined the protesters over the weekend, saying it would refuse to fire on them and escorting thousands of demonstrators in the main square of the capital Antananarivo.The paramilitary gendarmerie and the police also broke ranks with Rajoelina.Madagascar, where the average age is less than 20, has a population of about 30 million, three-quarters of whom live in poverty. GDP per capita plunged 45% from the time of independence in 1960 to 2020, according to the World Bank.

Presidency says attempted coup underwaySome soldiers announce support for protestersProtests have escalated since September 25 Madagascar's presidency said on Sunday that an attempt to grab power by force was underway in the African nation as more soldiers joined a youth-led protest movement that has rocked the former French colony for more than two weeks. Troops from the elite CAPSAT unit that helped President Andry Rajoelina seize power in a 2009 coup, urged fellow soldiers to disobey orders on Saturday and back the youth-led protests, which began on September 25 and pose the most serious challenge to Rajoelina's rule since his reelection in 2023. CAPSAT officers said on Sunday they had command over the country's security operations and would coordinate all branches of the military from their base on the outskirts of the capital, Antananarivo. They said they had appointed General Demosthene Pikulas as head of the army. A unit of the paramilitary gendarmerie, which had so far tackled the protests together with the police, also broke ranks with the government on Sunday. "All use of force and any improper behaviour towards our fellow citizens are prohibited, as the gendarmerie is a force meant to protect people and not to defend the interests of a few individuals," the Intervention Forces of the National Gendarmerie said in a statement broadcast on Real TV. It said it was coordinating with the CAPSAT headquarters. The Defence Ministry and the military general staff declined to comment. A Reuters witness saw three people injured after shots were fired along a road to the CAPSAT barracks on Sunday. Other witnesses said there was no sign of ongoing clashes. In a statement on the presidency's official social media account, Rajoelina's office said "an attempted illegal and forcible seizure of power" was underway, adding that the president had urged "dialogue to resolve the crisis". Rajoelina's whereabouts were unknown on Sunday, but late on Saturday his office said he and the prime minister were "fully in control of the nation's affairs". The protests, inspired by Gen Z-led movements in Kenya and Nepal, began over water and electricity shortages but have since spread, with demonstrators calling for Rajoelina to step down, apologise for violence against protesters, and dissolve the Senate and electoral commission. Some demonstrators have been sporting T-shirts and flags with the same symbol - a skull with a straw hat from the Japanese manga series "One Piece" - used by youth-led demonstrators in countries including Indonesia and Peru. Thousands of protesters gathered in Antananarivo on Sunday to protest against the government and pay tribute to a slain CAPSAT soldier, whom the army unit said was killed by the gendarmerie on Saturday. The peaceful gathering was attended by church leaders and opposition politicians, including former President Marc Ravalomanana, as well as CAPSAT troops. Madagascar, a country where the median age is less than 20, has a population of about 30 million - three-quarters of whom live in poverty, according to the World Bank. A video broadcast by local media showed dozens of soldiers leaving the barracks on Saturday to escort thousands of protesters into the May 13 Square in Antananarivo, the scene of many political uprisings, which had been heavily guarded and off limits during the unrest. The African Union Commission's chief Mahmoud Ali Youssouf called for calm and restraint. Citing the security situation on the ground, Air France-KLM's French division suspended flights between Paris-Charles de Gaulle airport and Antananarivo from October 11 to October 13.

The youth-led movement behind nearly two weeks of anti-government protests in Madagascar rejected dialogue with President Andry Rajoelina and called a strike and new demonstration for Thursday.Near-daily protests erupted in the impoverished Indian Ocean island on September 25, claiming at least 22 lives, according to a UN toll that is disputed by local authorities.Rajoelina sacked his entire government last week and appointed an army general as prime minister on Monday, calling a public meeting at the presidential palace Wednesday where he heard complaints from dozens of participants.The meeting was snubbed by the Gen Z Mada movement leading the protests, which were sparked by anger over frequent power and water cuts."We reject this sham dialogue," the group said on social media, criticising "a government that represses, abuses and humiliates young people in the streets".One of the student protest leaders was nonetheless present at the event, telling the 51-year-old president: "Poverty is becoming severe here in Madagascar because there is too much corruption in the government.""Students cannot focus on their studies due to the lack of light. There is no water. There are even rats where we sleep," he charged in a passionate tirade that received the loudest applause of the day from the crowd of about 1,000 people.Other speakers raised more personal cases, such as a jailed husband or an unemployed son, in exchanges that were broadcast live on radio and television.In return, Rajoelina promised to resign if the capital was still plagued by electrcity outages within a year.Rajoelina has also appointed new ministers to head the three portfolios covering the army, public security and police, saying the country "no longer needs disruption but peace".But the protest leaders said these appointments to "restore order" were a challenge and called a general strike and fresh demonstration in the capital Antananarivo for Thursday.The movement comprising about 20 groups has issued Rajoelina with a list of demands that includes a public apology for violence against protesters but does not mention previous calls for him to step down.Other demands are an overhaul of the Constitutional Court and the dissolution of the Senate or at least the removal of its president, Richard Ravalomanana, a former police general.The large island of around 32 million people is the leading producer of vanilla and has significant natural resources but nearly three-quarters of the population lived below the poverty line in 2022, according to World Bank figures.Among the world's poorest countries, Madagascar has undergone frequent popular uprisings since independence in 1960, including mass protests in 2009 that forced then-president Marc Ravalomanana from power as the military installed Rajoelina for his first term.He won re-election in 2018 and again in 2023 in contested polls.The latest round of protests were initially supported by thousands of people and focused on the capital, with demonstrations also in several major provincial cities.Around 100 people gathered in a new protest near Lake Anosy in the capital Wednesday.The previous day, security forces again used tear gas to disperse scores of protesters in the same area, causing several injuries, AFP journalists reported.Conflict monitoring group ACLED said the month of September saw the second-highest level of protests in Madagascar since it began collecting data in 1997, surpassed only by a surge before the 2023 vote.

Security forces dispersed hundreds of protesters with tear gas in Madagascar's capital Monday, injuring at least one, AFP reporters saw, while President Andry Rajoelina was expected to name a new premier in a bid to defuse the crisis.Near-daily youth-led protests that started on September 25 against persistent water and power cuts in the impoverished Indian Ocean island have grown into an anti-government movement calling for Rajoelina to resign.Rajoelina sacked his government on September 29 and was expected to announce his prime minister Monday night, but this has not placated 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."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.Rajoelina on Saturday met with representatives of the private sector, administration and trade unions, and was expected to announce a new prime minister Monday night, according to his spokesperson."We don't want him to listen to people in his office, we want him to get out on the ground," said the protester Fanomezantsoa, 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) said on Friday that it was 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.

Madagascar marked at a ceremony Tuesday the return from France of the skulls of three men killed by French troops 128 years ago, including one believed to be that of a decapitated king. France handed over the skulls in Paris on August 27, in the first such restitution since it passed a law in 2023 facilitating the return of human remains seized during its colonial conquests.They are believed to belong to King Toera of the Sakalava people, who was beheaded by French troops in 1897, and two of his warriors. The remains arrived in Madagascar late Monday and were received at the airport by members of the Sakalava group dressed in traditional robes.Held in three boxes draped with the flag of the Indian Ocean nation, they were driven through the capital Antananarivo to the city's mausoleum Tuesday, where they were welcomed by President Andry Rajoelina and a gathering of government and Sakalava dignitaries. "If we want to move forward, we must know our past, our history," Rajoelina told the gathering. "We are proud to have had a king and his soldiers who protected the nation," he said, praising a people who rose against French colonial troops "with courage and daring".King Toera's great-grandson, the newly enthroned Sakalava king Georges Harea Kamamy, sprinkled water from the sacred Tsiribihina River to welcome home his ancestor's remains. "We Sakalava are relieved. Today is a day of joy," Kamamy said.He however regretted that the skulls were handed to Madagascar's government instead of the royal family. The skulls will take a four-day, 800-kilometre journey by road to the west coast area of Menabe, where they are expected to be buried later this week.The skull believed to be the king's will rejoin the rest of his skeleton in a tomb in Ambiky, where he was killed in 1897. "It is a source of pride and immense inner peace that my ancestor is back among us," a royal descendant and leader of the second Sakalava clan, Joe Kamamy, told AFP.He hinted at disagreements within the royal family about the final resting place of the artefact. "I have only one regret: that the skulls are not kept in Mitsinjo (in the centre-west), with the relics of the other (Sakalava) kings," he said. Following the 1897 Ambiky massacre, the skulls were taken to France as trophies.They were kept in Paris's national history museum alongside hundreds of other remains from Madagascar, which declared independence in 1960 after more than 60 years of French colonial rule. France has in recent years sent back various artefacts plundered during its imperial campaigns. Yet each return required special legislation, until parliament adopted the 2023 law simplifying the repatriation of human remains.