President of Madagascar flees to ‘safe location’ amid deadly protests

Andry Rajoelina’s announcement connected Monday followed reports that helium had been evacuated by a French craft connected Sunday.

President Andry Rajoelina has fled Madagascar to support his beingness amid nationwide protests, which began precocious past month.

Rajoelina confirmed successful a unrecorded Facebook code connected Monday that helium had travelled to a harmless determination pursuing reports and rumours that helium had been flown retired of the state connected Sunday.

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The 51-year-old did not disclose his whereabouts.

Rajoelina had been owed to springiness a tv code connected Monday afternoon, but the code was delayed aft “a radical of equipped forces threatened to instrumentality power of the state-owned media”, Rajoelina’s bureau said connected Facebook.

On Monday, French President Emmanuel Macron expressed interest implicit the concern successful his country’s erstwhile colony, wherever the United Nations says astatine slightest 22 radical person been killed successful clashes betwixt protesters and information forces.

Speaking from a acme successful Egypt, Macron refused to remark connected whether Rajoelina had been evacuated by France.

“I volition not corroborate thing today,” helium said. “I conscionable privation to explicit our large concern.”

A subject root told the Reuters quality bureau that Rajoelina near Madagascar connected Sunday connected committee a French Army Casa aircraft, aft being brought to the Sainte Marie Airport by helicopter.

The president’s reported departure came aft service units defected connected Saturday, with Rajoelina condemning the determination arsenic “an effort to prehend powerfulness illegally and by force”.

Hours aft his comments, the army’s elite CAPSAT unit, which played an important relation successful archetypal bringing Rajoelina to powerfulness successful a 2009 coup, said it had taken power of the country’s military. Earlier, it had announced that it would “refuse orders to shoot” demonstrators.

Protesters chant antigovernment slogans arsenic they stitchery for a civilian nine rally to request the resignation of President Andry Rajoelina, successful Antananarivo, connected October 13, 2025 [AFP]

Protests successful Madagascar began connected September 25 implicit h2o and powerfulness outages, but they soon gave emergence to wider grievances implicit the outgo of living, poorness and alleged authorities corruption, with galore demanding Rajoelina’s resignation.

On Monday, hundreds of protesters – joined by soldiers and information forces – gathered extracurricular the metropolis hallway successful Antananarivo, Madagascar’s capital, waving flags and chanting slogans.

One of the protesters, 24-year-old Finaritra Manitra Andrianamelasoa, told the AFP quality bureau that helium hopes the president “will apologise and genuinely denote his resignation”.

“Afterwards, we tin see organising elections and find who volition beryllium suitable to instrumentality the enactment role,” Andrianamelasoa added.

The demonstrations successful Madagascar travel a planetary inclination of Gen Z protestation movements, including successful Nepal, which led to the removal of Nepalese President KP Sharma Oli successful aboriginal September.