Spanish
The president of Madagascar, Andry Rajoelina, denounced this Friday an attempt to overthrow his Government, after days of demonstrations driven by the country's youth against water and electricity cuts and bad governance, in which at least 22 people have died.
"They have been used to provoke a coup d'état (...). What I want to tell you is that there are people who want to destroy our country," Rajoelina affirmed in a speech to the nation broadcast live via the social network Facebook.
"Countries and agencies paid for this movement to remove me from power, not through elections, but for profit to seize power as in other African countries. Therefore, I tell you to be very careful," he added.
In other messages posted before the speech on his social media account X, the president shared images of his meetings with religious leaders to address the crisis in the country.
"Previously, I met with international partners, embassies, the World Bank, the IMF (International Monetary Fund), and the United Nations," as well as with representatives of civil society and political parties, he noted.
Rajoelina made these statements days after announcing in another speech on the night of last Monday the dismissal of the prime minister and the entire Executive, whose members will remain as interim until the formation of a new Government.
Despite that decision and the police repression with tear gas and ammunition, the demonstrations, which began on September 25th, have not stopped, promoted above all by the youth of the so-called generation Z in the capital, Antananarivo, and in other cities of the country.
After a pause this Thursday in Antananarivo - although thousands of people marched in other cities - there were calls again this Friday to go to the center of the capital, where shops remained closed and there was a strong security deployment.
So far, according to the United Nations, at least 22 people have died and more than a hundred have been injured.
According to what the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, Volker Türk, detailed this Monday, the victims include protesters and passers-by shot by security forces, as well as people killed in looting and acts of violence perpetrated by groups unrelated to the marches.
The organizers have insisted that the protests are peaceful and blamed "outside groups" for the disturbances.
Inspired by recent youth mobilizations in countries like Kenya and Nepal, these protests are the largest the Indian Ocean island has seen in years and the most serious challenge Rajoelina has faced since his re-election in 2023.
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The president, a 51-year-old former DJ, first came to power in a coup in 2009 but resigned in 2014 as leader of the transition authority. He returned to the Presidency after winning the 2018 elections and secured a second term emanating from the ballot boxes in the December 2023 elections, which his rivals denounced as riddled with irregularities.
