Madagascar President Andry Rajoelina Flees Country Out Amid Protests

Madagascar’s president, Andry Rajoelina, reportedly left the country aboard a French military aircraft hours before he was due to address the nation.

French state radio RFI said on Monday, October 13, that Rajoelina—who holds French citizenship—was flown out of Antananarivo under an arrangement with President Emmanuel Macron and may have been bound for Dubai.

The presidency had announced he would speak to the nation at 7 p.m. (1600 GMT). Rajoelina, 51, who first served as president from 2009 to 2014 and returned to power in 2023, became isolated after losing the support of a key army unit that joined mass youth protests led by “Gen Z Madagascar” over corruption and poverty. The movement refused an earlier offer of dialogue and demanded his resignation.

On Monday, crowds gathered outside Antananarivo city hall waving flags and chanting, with some demonstrators clinging to military vehicles, Reuters and AFP reporters said. Members of the elite Capsat unit—who had a major role in the 2009 power change—were among the protesters, as were gendarmerie officers who acknowledged in a video statement that there had been “faults and excesses” in their response.

The UN says at least 22 people were killed in the early days of unrest, which also involved violence by criminal gangs and looters; Rajoelina has disputed that figure, saying there were 12 confirmed deaths and that those killed were looters. The unrest followed the arrest on September 19 of two politicians who had planned a protest over persistent power and water shortages.