Madagascar president refuses to step down as antigov’t protests continue | Protests News

Protesters problem president 24-hour ultimatum to ‘reply favourably’ to calls for, threatening ‘all vital measures’.

Madagascan President Andry Rajoelina has ignored requires his resignation by a nationwide youth-led protest motion, condemning what he perceives to be a coup plot pushed by rivals.

Protesters took to the streets of the capital, Antananarivo, on Friday after a “strategic” pause within the near-daily demonstrations led by a motion often called “Gen Z”, which has demanded the president’s resignation over his alleged failure to ship primary providers, together with water and electrical energy.

At the very least 22 individuals have been killed because the protests began on September 25, based on the United Nations. On Friday, police fired tear gasoline to disperse marchers within the capital, footage from Actual TV Madagasikara confirmed.

“Nobody advantages from the destruction of the nation. I’m right here, I stand right here able to hear, prepared to increase a serving to hand and … to deliver options to Madagascar,” Rajoelina mentioned in a speech broadcast on his Fb web page.

He mentioned, with out offering proof, that some politicians had been plotting to make the most of the protests and had thought-about staging a coup whereas he was addressing the United Nations in New York final week.

“What I need to let you know is that some individuals need to destroy our nation,” he mentioned, with out naming these he alleged had been behind the transfer.

The Gen Z motion rejected Rajoelina’s speech as “mindless”, promising to take “all vital measures” if the president didn’t “reply favourably” inside 24 hours to its calls for.

There have been additionally protests within the northern coastal metropolis of Mahajanga and within the southern cities of Toliara and Fianarantsoa.

‘Opportunistic teams’

Madagascar is wealthy in sources but stays one of many world’s poorest international locations, with 75 p.c of its inhabitants of 32 million residing under the poverty line in 2022, based on the World Financial institution.

The latest unrest compelled Rajoelina to sack his government on Monday and invite dialogue. In a publish on his X account on the finish of the week, he mentioned he had additionally met numerous teams for the previous three days to debate the state of affairs.

Madagascar’s International Minister Rasata Rafaravavitafika mentioned the nation confronted “an enormous cyberattack” and a “focused digital manipulation marketing campaign” launched from one other nation.

“In keeping with analyses by our specialised items, this operation was initially directed from overseas by an company with superior technological capabilities,” she mentioned.

She claimed that “opportunistic teams” had “infiltrated” the protests and aimed to “exploit the vulnerability of a few of Madagascar’s younger individuals”.

Rajoelina, the previous mayor of Antananarivo, first got here to energy in 2009 following a coup sparked by an rebellion that deposed former President Marc Ravalomanana.

After sitting out the 2013 election underneath worldwide stress, he was voted again into workplace in 2018 and re-elected in 2023.