French state radio RFI said Rajoelina, who also holds French citizenship, left the capital, Antananarivo, after an arrangement with President Emmanuel Macron, and may be en route to Dubai. The presidency had earlier announced the president would speak to the nation at 7 p.m. (1600 GMT).
Rajoelina, 51, who first led the country from 2009 to 2014 before returning to power in 2023, has faced mounting isolation after key army units withdrew support and large-scale street protests erupted. Thousands of young protesters, mobilised under the banner “Gen Z Madagascar,” have been calling for his resignation over corruption and worsening poverty. The movement rejected an invitation to dialogue and demanded immediate political change.
Tensions escalated after members of the elite Capsat unit — which played a decisive role in Rajoelina’s return to power in 2009 — joined the demonstrations alongside gendarmes and police. Reporters from Agence France-Presse described crowds filling the square outside Antananarivo city hall, with some protesters clambering onto military vehicles.
The unrest followed the arrest on September 19 of two opposition politicians who had planned a protest to highlight chronic power and water shortages. Violence in the ensuing weeks has been severe: the United Nations reports at least 22 people were killed in the early days, attributing deaths to both security-force action and violence by criminal gangs and looters. Rajoelina has disputed that toll, saying last week there were “12 confirmed deaths,” whom he described as “looters and vandals.”
In a video statement, some gendarmes acknowledged “faults and excesses” in the security forces’ handling of near-daily protests. Meanwhile, footage posted by Capsat soldiers on Saturday, October 11, urged security personnel to refuse orders to shoot civilians and warned against following commands that would endanger their own families.
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