MADAGASCAR PRESIDENT RAJOELINA REFUSES TO STEP DOWN AS GEN Z LED ANTIGOV’T PROTESTS CONTINUE

Sat 04 October 2025:

Madagascar’s President Andry Rajoelina has dismissed demands for his resignation from a youth-led protest movement, labeling their actions as a coup attempt orchestrated by political opponents.

On Friday, demonstrators flooded the streets of Antananarivo following a brief pause in the almost daily protests led by the “Gen Z” movement, which has been calling for the president’s resignation due to his alleged inability to provide essential services like water and electricity.

The demonstrations are the largest Madagascar has seen in years and the most serious challenge Rajoelina has faced since his re-election in 2023. He said he wanted to create space for dialogue with young people who are angry with water shortages and power cuts. He promised interventions to support businesses affected by the looting.

The UN said Monday that at least 22 people had been killed and more than 100 injured in demonstrations that have been inspired by the so-called “Gen-Z” protests in Kenya and Nepal.

“We acknowledge and apologize if members of the government have not carried out the tasks assigned to them; I understand the anger, sadness and difficulties caused by power cuts and water supply problems,” Rajoelina said in a televised address on state broadcaster Televiziona Malagasy (TVM) from Antananarivo, the capital.

“No one benefits from the destruction of the nation. I am here, I stand here ready to listen, ready to extend a helping hand and … to bring solutions to Madagascar,” Rajoelina said in a speech broadcast on his Facebook page.

He said, without providing evidence, that some politicians were plotting to take advantage of the protests and had considered staging a coup while he was addressing the United Nations in New York last week.

“What I want to tell you is that some people want to destroy our country,” he said, without naming those he alleged were behind the move.

The Gen Z movement rejected Rajoelina’s speech as “senseless”, promising to take “all necessary measures” if the president did not “respond favourably” within 24 hours to its demands.

There were also protests in the northern coastal city of Mahajanga and in the southern cities of Toliara and Fianarantsoa.

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Madagascar’s Foreign Minister Rasata Rafaravavitafika said the country faced “a massive cyberattack” and a “targeted digital manipulation campaign” launched from another country.

“According to analyses by our specialised units, this operation was initially directed from abroad by an agency with advanced technological capabilities,” she said.

She claimed that “opportunistic groups” had “infiltrated” the protests and aimed to “exploit the vulnerability of some of Madagascar’s young people”.

Madagascar is rich in resources yet remains one of the world’s poorest countries, with 75 percent of its population of 32 million living below the poverty line in 2022, according to the World Bank.

SOURCE: INDEPENDENT PRESS AND NEWS AGENCIES

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