Madagascar: The President's Address Will Take Place at 10:30 PM

Madagascar: The President's address is scheduled for 10:30 PM local time.

The highly anticipated speech by Malagasy President Andry Rajoelina, following the military's alignment with protesters challenging his power, has been postponed again, this time to 9:30 PM local time (10:30 PM in Mauritius), as announced by the presidency.

This address comes after the president condemned over the weekend what he termed an "illegal power takeover" on this particularly impoverished island in the Indian Ocean. The speech was initially delayed due to the arrival of a "group of armed soldiers" at the headquarters of the public television network, according to the presidency.

The presidency assured that "discussions" are ongoing to facilitate the broadcast of this address from an undisclosed location.

According to French radio RFI, Rajoelina boarded a French military plane to Réunion on Sunday, before heading to another destination with his family. The French executive has not responded to AFP's inquiries regarding this matter.

The soldiers attempting to prevent the speech's broadcast belonged to the Capsat unit, as confirmed by an AFP witness. This military unit initiated the mutiny by announcing on Saturday that they would "refuse to fire on the protesters," subsequently clearing a path for them to the center of the Malagasy capital, which was blocked by gendarmes.

The new chief of staff appointed by officers of this unit over the weekend, General Démosthène Pikulas, appeared at the Malagasy public television TVM on Monday to "intervene, resolve the conflict, and take responsibility," as stated by the Malagasy presidency on Facebook.

AFP