Capture of Palace and Ravalomanana's Resignation
On 16 March 2009, one of the palaces of President Ravalomanana, the Ambohitsorohitra Palace, was stormed and taken by soldiers of the Malagasy Army. Reports also indicate the capture of the country's central bank. The president was not in the stormed palace at the time. The African Union condemned the action, calling it an "attempted coup d'état". The actions followed an earlier call from opposition leader Andry Rajoelina for the President's arrest; Rajoelina insisted that the palace seizure was not a coup, although he immediately installed himself in the presidential offices of the captured palace.
Hours later, the BBC stated that Ravalomanana was to resign and hand over the powers of both the president and prime minister to a military board headed by Vice Admiral Hyppolite Ramaroson. Ravalomanana later said, "I never resigned. I was forced to hand power over, at gun point, on March the 17th." At the time, Ravalomanana had already moved out of the Iavoloha Palace to an undisclosed location; as of 24 March, he was reportedly in Swaziland. The military junta, consisting of senior military personnel, would have been charged with organizing elections within 24 months and re-writing the constitution for the "Fourth Republic". However, Vice Admiral Ramaroson announced on 18 March that it would transfer power directly to Rajoelina, making him president of the opposition-dominated High Transitional Authority that he had appointed weeks earlier. With the military's backing, the authority was charged with taking up the task previously accorded to Ravalomanana's proposed military directorate. Madagascar's constitutional court deemed the transfer of power, from Ravalomanana to the military board and then to Rajoelina, to be legal. The court's statement did not include any justifications for its decision.
Rajoelina said that Ravalomanana should be prosecuted for allegedly using lethal force against unarmed opposition demonstrators earlier in the year. Rajoelina is prohibiting Ravalomanana's ministers from leaving the country.
On 19 March, Rajoelina suspended both chambers of Parliament. Roindefo responded to international criticism on 20 March, saying that the government will "explain the real situation. Maybe the way Madagascar acts is not very clear. Things can be a bit specific which may be difficult to follow in every detail." According to Roindefo, the transfer of power was not a coup d'état but instead "the direct expression of democracy, when representative democracy does not express itself through the institutions". Rajoelina was sworn in as President on 21 March before a crowd of 40,000 supporters. No foreign diplomats were in attendance; Rajoelina's foreign minister said none were invited.
Read more about this topic: 2009 Malagasy Political Crisis
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