Madagascar, 2009 — military coup

Event Summary

On 17 March 2009 President Marc Ravalomanana of Madagascar was pushed from office after months of escalating confrontation with the opposition leader Andry Rajoelina, the young mayor of Antananarivo. The crisis had begun in December 2008 when the government shut Rajoelina's television station, and grew into mass protests in which at least 130 people were killed, including dozens shot by the presidential guard outside the palace in February. As mutinous soldiers, including an elite army unit, turned against the president and seized key sites, Ravalomanana on 17 March announced he was stepping down and transferred his authority to a military directorate led by the senior ranking officer, asking that a military council be set up to rule.

The military promptly handed power to Rajoelina, who on 21 March was declared president of a High Transitional Authority. Ravalomanana went into exile in South Africa. The international community, including the African Union, SADC, and the United States, condemned the transfer as a coup, noting that the constitution provided no mechanism for an elected president to hand power to the military or for the military to confer the presidency on an unelected civilian, and Madagascar was suspended from the AU and SADC.

The framing of the removal is contested, with Rajoelina's side describing a popular uprising and Ravalomanana's supporters calling it a coup.