Outpoll | Military Unit Seizes Power in Madagascar Amid Cheers

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Military Unit Seizes Power in Madagascar Amid Cheers

Military Unit Seizes Power in Madagascar Amid Cheers

2 days ago7 min read9 comments

The streets of Antananarivo erupted not in gunfire, but in celebration, a surreal scene unfolding as an elite military unit, the 5th Intervention Force, declared it had seized control of Madagascar, effectively toppling President Andry Rajoelina's government. This was not a coup met with the typical dread and boarded-up windows; instead, crowds cheered, waving flags and embracing soldiers, a visceral public endorsement that complicates the immediate international response and signals a deep, festering discontent with a regime accused of escalating corruption and economic mismanagement.The unit's commander, General Richard Ravalomanana, a decorated veteran with ties to the island nation's pre-colonial Merina monarchy, addressed the nation from the steps of the Presidential Palace, his statement clipped and urgent, characteristic of a breaking-news alert: 'The constitutional order has been suspended. The nation's assets are secure.A transitional military directorate will guide us to legitimate elections. ' The speed of the takeover was breathtaking, a meticulously planned operation that saw key communication hubs, the central bank, and the Ivato International Airport secured within hours, encountering minimal resistance from presidential guards who, in several reported instances, simply stood down.The catalyst appears to have been Rajoelina's increasingly authoritarian grip, particularly his controversial 'Land Sovereignty Act' pushed through parliament last week, a move seen as a blatant land grab to reward political allies and foreign investors at the expense of subsistence farmers, igniting protests that the army was ultimately unwilling to suppress. This event echoes the island's turbulent political history, a grim replay of the 2009 uprising that first brought Rajoelina, then a young mayor, to power in a similar military-backed revolt, a cycle of instability that has plagued Madagascar since its independence from France in 1960.The international community is now scrambling; the African Union, which suspended Madagascar following the 2009 coup, has emergency sessions underway, while France and the United States are monitoring their strategic interests, particularly the vital nickel and cobalt mines critical for global battery production. The immediate risk is a power vacuum, but the broader consequence is a test of democratic resilience in a region increasingly susceptible to military intervention, from the Sahel to Central Africa.Analysts are warily watching the reaction of other military factions and the powerful business oligarchs who have long controlled the nation's vanilla and precious gem trades; their alignment, or lack thereof, with General Ravalomanana will determine whether this transition is a brief interlude or the start of a prolonged period of junta rule. For now, the capital breathes a collective, albeit anxious, sigh of relief, but the true battle for Madagascar's future—between the euphoria of liberation and the hard realities of governance—has only just begun.