ANTANANARIVO: An army colonel who seized power in a military coup was set to be sworn in as Madagascar’s new leader Friday in a lightning-fast power grab that ousted the president and sent him fleeing from the country into hiding.
Col. Michael Randrianirina, the commander of an elite army unit, will take the oath of office at the nation’s High Constitutional Court, he said in a statement published on state media.
His ascent to the presidency would come just three days after he announced that the armed forces were taking power in the sprawling Indian Ocean island of around 30 million people off Africa’s east coast.
Preparations were being made at the court buildings early Friday, with soldiers guarding entrances and officials beginning to arrive. It appeared the colonel would take the oath in the supreme court’s main chamber.
The military takeover — which came after three weeks of anti-government protests by mainly young people — has been condemned by the United Nations and led to Madagascar being suspended from the African Union.
