An army commander who led a mutiny in Madagascar said on Tuesday the military had taken power after President Andry Rajoelina was impeached by lawmakers and forced to flee the country following weeks of youth-led protests.

Rajoelina had refused to step down despite escalating Gen Z demonstrations demanding his resignation and widespread defections in the army.

“We have taken the power,” Colonel Michael Randrianirina declared on national radio and said that the military was dissolving all institutions except the lower house of parliament or the National Assembly.

Randrianirina later told reporters a committee led by the military would rule the country for a period of up to two years alongside a transitional government before organising new elections.

“The following institutions are suspended: the Senate, the High Constitutional Court, the Independent National Electoral Commission, the High Court of Justice, and the High Council for the Defence of Human Rights and the Rule of Law,” a statement from the country’s military leaders said.

In a day of turmoil for the nation off southern Africa’s coast, the 51-year-old leader, whose whereabouts are unknown, earlier sought to dissolve the lower house by decree.

But lawmakers went ahead with a vote to impeach him, leaving the country in a constitutional deadlock which the military seized upon to declare they were taking charge.

Rajoelina, who himself came to power in a coup in 2009, condemned the power grab by the military in a statement.

Military suspends institutions

Randrianirina, a commander in the elite CAPSAT army unit that played a key role in Rajoelina’s 2009 coup, broke ranks with him last week.

In a defiant address to the nation on Monday night, Rajoelina said that he had been forced to move to a safe place because of threats to his life. An opposition official, a military source and a foreign diplomat told Reuters he had fled the country on Sunday aboard a French military plane.

His isolation increased further on Tuesday when even lawmakers from his ruling coalition, which holds a parliamentary majority, voted to impeach him on charges of engaging in activities deemed incompatible with presidential duties.

Rajoelina had repeatedly warned in recent days that an attempted coup was underway in the Indian Ocean island nation.

Escalating demonstrations 

Demonstrations first erupted in the country on September 25 over water and power shortages and quickly escalated into an uprising over broader grievances, including corruption, bad governance and a lack of basic services.

The anger mirrored recent protests against ruling elites elsewhere, including Nepal and Morocco.

Earlier on Tuesday, at Antananarivo’s 13 May Square, along the main drag lined with palm trees and French colonial buildings, thousands of protesters danced, marched, sang and waved banners denouncing Rajoelina as a French stooge because of his dual citizenship and support from Madagascar’s former coloniser.

Many were waving Malagasy flags and the signature Gen Z protest banner of a skull and crossbones from the Japanese “One Piece” anime series.

At one point, Randrianirina took the stage and asked: “Are you ready to accept a military takeover?”, drawing cheers of approval from the crowd.

Later, as news of the military takeover filtered through to protesters, many were jubilant.

“We’re so happy Andry Rajoelina is finally gone … We will start again,” high-school student Fih Nomensanahary said, with four of her friends cheering alongside her.

Others were more cautious. “They need to hand over to a civilian administration quickly and have an election,” said Rezafy Lova, a 68-year-old IT consultant.

Economy in tatters

CAPSAT had joined the protesters over the weekend, saying it would refuse to fire on them. It went on to take charge of the military and appointed a new army chief, prompting Rajoelina to warn on Sunday of an illegal attempt to seize power.

Since then, the paramilitary gendarmerie and the police have also broken ranks with Rajoelina.

Madagascar, where the average age is less than 20, has a population of about 30 million, three-quarters of whom live in poverty. Between its independence in 1960 and 2020, GDP per capita plunged 45%, according to the World Bank.

• Garment unit blaze spreads to chemical warehouse.
• Firefighters recover 16 bodies as rescue efforts continue.
• Cause of deadly blaze not yet determined, say officials.
  

DHAKA: A fire at a garment factory in Bangladesh and a chemical warehouse adjacent to it on Tuesday killed at least 16 people and injured several, with the death toll expected to rise as rescue efforts continued, said an official.

“16 bodies have been recovered from the second and third floors of the garment factory,” fire service director Tajul Islam Chowdhury said, adding that the number of deaths could rise as recovery operations were continuing.

He said the cause of the blaze wasn’t immediately known.

The fire broke out at around midday on the third floor of the seven-storey factory in the Mirpur area of the capital Dhaka, before spreading to a chemical warehouse storing bleaching powder, plastic and hydrogen peroxide, Talha Bin Jashim, another fire department official said, citing witnesses.

Grief-stricken relatives gathered in search of their loved ones, some clutching photographs.

History of Industrial disasters  

Chowdhury said the factory owners had not yet been identified. “The police and the army are looking for them.”

Asked whether the chemical warehouse had a license to operate, he said: “We don’t know about the license yet. However, as far as we have heard, it is illegal. We will be able to confirm once the investigation is completed.”

In a condolence message, Bangladesh’s interim government head Muhammad Yunus expressed deep sorrow over the tragedy. He directed authorities to investigate the cause of the fire and to ensure that victims and their families receive all necessary assistance.

Poor fire and building safety standards lead to dozens of such disasters in Bangladesh each year, and past accidents have tarnished the country’s textiles sector, which employs 4 million people and makes up more than 10% of the country’s gross domestic product.

In 2013, more than 1,100 people were killed when the multi-story Rana Plaza building housing garment factories suddenly collapsed.

On Tuesday, 12 firefighting units brought the blaze at the factory under control after nearly three hours, though the fire at the warehouse continued. Members of the Bangladesh Army, police and border guard joined the rescue operation, officials said.

Torrential rains that lashed Mexico last week killed at least 64 people and 65 more are missing, the government said on Monday, after a tropical depression triggered landslides and flooding in parts of the Gulf Coast and central states.

The unnamed depression came toward the end of the rainy season, battering land and bursting rivers that had already been soaked by months of rains, while forecasters were focused on tropical storms and two hurricanes on the Pacific coast.

“This intense rain was not expected to be of such magnitude,” President Claudia Sheinbaum told reporters.

Admiral Raymundo Morales, Mexico’s Navy secretary, said the flooding was the result of the coming together of warm and cold air fronts over rivers that were already filled to the brink and mountains weakened by months of rain.

Around 100,000 homes were affected, Sheinbaum said. She is set to meet with the finance ministry later in the day to discuss rebuilding efforts, and visit some hard-hit states.

Laura Velazquez, national coordinator of civil protection, said Hidalgo and Veracruz were the states worst affected, with 29 deaths and 18 missing reported in Veracruz, and 21 deaths and 43 missing in Hidalgo.

The rain also destroyed infrastructure such as bridges and left streets filled with mud. Videos and images from last week showed emergency responders wading through deep waters to find stranded residents and get supplies to affected communities.

Authorities have deployed thousands of personnel to help evacuate, clean up and monitor the places that were hardest hit.

Electricity, which had been knocked out in towns across five states, has largely been restored. Authorities said they will also focus on containing the spread of viruses such as dengue, carried by mosquitoes that breed in stagnant water.