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Tanks on the move in Madagascar's capital
(Agencies)
Updated: 2009-03-17 10:29 ANTANANARIVO -- Two tanks forced their way into a presidential palace in Madagascar's capital and two explosions rocked the city Monday soon after the armed forces publicly backed opposition leader Andry Rajoelina in his power struggle with President Marc Ravalomanana.
Soldiers in Madagascar seized a presidential palace in a show of force further isolating President Marc Ravalomanana in his power struggle with an opposition leader. A few bursts of gunfire rang out and soldiers were positioned around the palace, Reuters witnesses said. Ravalomanana was not in the building. He has been sheltering in another palace about 10 kms from the city center. Rajoelina had called Monday for the security forces to arrest Ravalomanana, who has resisted growing pressure to resign over the crisis in the Indian Ocean island in which at least 135 people have been killed. The president says he will only step down democratically and has offered a referendum on whether he should stay. The army has traditionally remained neutral during periods of political volatility since independence from France in 1960. But Monday Colonel Andre Ndriarijaona said: "If Andry Rajoelina can resolve the problem, we are behind him." "I would say 99 percent of the forces are behind him," he told a news conference in the capital Antananarivo, also attended by Madagascar's military police and national police. Christine Razanamahasoa, appointed minister of justice in Rajoelina's parallel administration, earlier said she was ordering prosecutors to arrest the president. |
