00:00We focus on Madagascar. It's reported that Ange Radswell has fled the country.
00:04The president was under intense pressure in the wake of so-called Generation Z demonstrations against corruption, poverty and a lack of opportunities for young people.
00:13Those protests began on September the 25th. People rallying around the pirate flag from the manga comic One Piece.
00:21That might have given it a kind of comic edge, but there was a real serious quest behind all of this.
00:27The aims of the protests quickly translated into political pressure on President Radswell.
00:32Military sources say he was flown out of Antares-Rivo by a French Air Force jet.
00:38Here at France 24, Chiffon still has this on the situation in Madagascar.
00:46Celebration in the streets across Madagascar followed reports that the president had fled the country
00:51and after units of the army defected, joining the protesters to topple the government.
00:57The protests, led by young activists and students who branded themselves as Gen Z Madagascar,
01:04erupted in the former French colony on September 25th in response to power and water shortages
01:10that quickly escalated into a broader uprising against government corruption and poverty.
01:15It's as if we were reliving Madagascar's independence a second time.
01:21Because it's not just students, like at the beginning of the protest.
01:26There's just about everyone.
01:29Ants Rachuelin served as Madagascar's leader from 2009 to 2014 before returning to power in 2023.
01:37Military sources said he left Madagascar's capital Sunday on a French military aircraft,
01:42which took him to the island of Ile-Saint-Marie, and then out of the country.
01:47Our media partner, RFI, reports that the ousted president, who also has French nationality,
01:53escaped after striking a deal with French President Emmanuel Macron.
01:57The median age in Madagascar is just 20 years old,
02:01and three-quarters of the population of 30 million lives in poverty.
02:06The young protesters are calling for across-the-board reforms.
02:09First of all, the system must be dismantled.
02:14Each demand should be resolved.
02:17And only then will the people of Madagascar make their choice.
02:23The anger against Rachuelin mirrors recent Gen Z protests in Nepal,
02:28where the prime minister was forced to resign last month,
02:31and Morocco, where young protesters there are demanding that the prime minister step down.
02:36Thank you, Francis there. Let's show you images just coming into us here at France 24.
02:40It is the Madagascar president, Andrew Roswell, currently speaking.
02:45We will try to get you more on this, where he is, what he's saying, what it's about, as soon as we can.
02:50This is the first time he's been seen since apparently fleeing the country.
02:54Let's bring in Luke Freeman, expert on Madagascar, its culture and its politics, for more on this.
03:00Luke, we're seeing Roswell speaking.
03:02As we get any clarification there, or we can go to it, we will.
03:04In the meantime, sir, give us your take on the situation.
03:10Well, Rachuelin has left the country.
03:13We know that.
03:13We know that he was escorted out on a French military jet with President Macron's approval.
03:20And President Macron has spoken of the importance of obeying the Constitution at this point.
03:26But the facts really are on the ground.
03:29He's left the country.
03:30He doesn't have a government in place because he dismissed the government just over a week ago and hasn't rebuilt it yet.
03:39So he doesn't have a government in place.
03:41He doesn't have the support of the armed forces.
03:43And he doesn't have the support of the people.
03:45It's going to be very difficult for him to come back from this.
03:48We'll see what he's saying in the speech.
03:50The speech was due to be given a few hours ago and has been delayed.
03:55So let's see what he says and what his intentions are.
03:58Indeed.
03:58Once upon a time, Roswell was the man with the plan.
04:01He was the solution.
04:02How did he become the problem?
04:04He came to power initially in 2009 as a young man in his 30s, actually too young to stand for president.
04:15But there was a way around was found.
04:18He has floundered ever since, basically because he hasn't been able to address the real root problems of poverty, lack of education services, lack of health services,
04:29and a growing population and a growingly militant population.
04:35Instead, he's focused on what you might call vanity projects, projects which might make Madagascar look modern and dynamic to the outside world,
04:56which really isn't that because the ordinary people can't afford to ride it.
05:01It costs four times as much as a bus.
05:03So these big showy projects have, for him, distracted from the undertow of poverty, which is dragging the country down.
05:13And that's what people are cross about.
05:14Indeed.
05:15I can recall many years ago, maybe 15 years ago, reading about the idea of Madagascar selling off, renting off, swathes of land to countries like Daewoo in South Korea
05:25in order to grow crops to be taken back to those countries.
05:28And clearly that involved an exchange of money.
05:30What happened to that kind of funding?
05:35That's a very good question.
05:36And I'm not able to answer what happened to that kind of funding.
05:39This was one of the things which he used against the president he replaced, Raivalu Manana, saying,
05:49look, this guy's selling off great swathes of the ancestral land to foreigners to grow food.
05:54Shouldn't be doing that.
05:56It's clear that similar deals have been ongoing under Radzuelina.
06:01So it's really difficult for him to take a stand on that particular thing.
06:08Look, there are big, big suspicions of corruption and misuse of funds in this regime.
06:15Madagascar ranks 140th out of about 180 countries in the Transparency International Index.
06:22So we know that corruption is rampant.
06:27And we know that the public, and particularly the Gen Z who've been protesting,
06:32are pointing the finger at Radzuelina as the main culprit in this.
06:37That's not to be proven, that hasn't been proven, but that's the public perception.
06:42Dr Freeman, Luke, your passion for Madagascar and for this topic comes through in everything you're saying.
06:48Do you see any particular sequence of events that is going to help Madagascar through what is clearly a very deep crisis?
06:57How do you see the future panning out?
06:59What do you think can be done right now to change things?
07:02I think the important thing right now is to obey the Constitution.
07:08Whatever happens, this mustn't fall into something which can be categorized categorically as an unconstitutional change of power.
07:18At the moment, I think it can still be argued that what's happening is within the Constitution.
07:23So as long as that happens, as I said, I think it's very unlikely Radzuelina will come back.
07:29His choice now is really how he departs.
07:33And the choice of the politicians is how they stay on side, as it were, with the Constitution to see him depart.
07:40The challenge for the Gen Z is to still have a stake in this conversation now that the army and the politicians have taken the lead in moving this forward.
07:51We don't want to see a situation, and the Gen Z certainly don't want to see a situation where all of their efforts get taken over by the old guard who they want to see replaced and who to them represent the old system that they want to see overthrown.
08:10I think we do need a renewal in Madagascar.
08:14We do need a restructuring of the political processes and structures, and that will entail a constitutional reform.
08:24But that can happen slowly, peacefully, and in time over the next year.
08:29Let's hope that that's what happens in Madagascar, rather than unconstitutional arguments and then the rejection by the international community of Madagascar and all the financial and economic implications that that would bring.
08:45Dr. Luke Freeman, University College London, expert on Madagascar.
08:48Thank you so very much for your analysis.
08:50We really appreciate it.
08:51Andrew Aswell, president who has fled the country, is speaking.
08:55We will have more analysis of that in our Africa program coming up very shortly.
09:00Once again, thanks to Dr. Luke Freeman for joining us, sir.
09:03Great to see you, and I urge you to stay with us.
09:05We're having a very short break, and after that, of course, our Eye on Africa.
Be the first to comment