MADAGASCAR PRESIDENT RAJOELINA TO ADDRESS NATION ON MONDAY EVENING. (PHOTO).

 Madagascar President Rajoelina to address nation on Monday evening

Madagascan President Andry Rajoelina will address the nation on Monday evening, his office announced on Facebook, after officers supporting youth-led protests said they were in control of the African island's paramilitary gendarmerie.

Rajoelina had warned on Sunday of an attempted power grab as soldiers increasingly aligned themselves with demonstrators in a movement that has shaken the country since protests began on September 25. His whereabouts remain unclear.

On Monday, officers supporting youth protesters have taken control of the paramilitary gendarmerie in Madagascar in the presence of senior government officials, a Reuters witness said.

'EXCEPTIONAL SITUATION, EXCEPTIONAL MEASURES'

The protests, initially over grassroots grievances, quickly spiralled into the most serious challenge to Rajoelina's rule since his re-election in 2023.

General Nonos Mbina Mamelison took over as the head of the gendarmerie from General Jean Herbert Rakotomalala in a ceremony on Monday attended by the minister in charge of the army, General Deramasinjaka Rakotoarivelo and General Demosthene Pikulas, the army chief of staff, the Reuters witness said.

"Exceptional situation, exceptional measures. And all the orders come from the gendarmerie command," Mamelison told reporters when asked about who was in charge of giving the unit commands.

A unit of the paramilitary gendarmerie, which had so far tackled the protests together with the police and was accused by protesters of using excessive force, broke ranks with the government on Sunday.

Officers from CAPSAT, an elite unit which helped Rajoelina seize power in a 2009 coup, said the same day that they had control over Madagascar's security operations and would coordinate all branches of the military from their base on the outskirts of the capital, Antananarivo.

They said they had appointed Pikulas, the former head of the military academy, as army chief.

The CAPSAT unit urged fellow soldiers to disobey orders on Saturday and back the demonstrators.

Madagascar, a country where the median age is less than 20, has a population of about 30 million - three-quarters of whom live in poverty, with GDP per capita plunging 45% between independence in 1960 and 2020, according to the World Bank.

While the country is best known for producing most of the world’s vanilla, other exports including nickel, cobalt, textiles and shrimp are also vital to foreign earnings and employment.