Video Transcript

Now, let's go to the Indian Ocean country of Madagascar, where the president's office says a quote violent attempt to seize power is underway. And now, an elite unit of Madagascar's army has claimed control of all military forces. The special unit is known as CAPSAT and joined anti-government protests just yesterday. It called on other security forces to follow them. The protest began in September over shortages of electricity and water and have grown into a challenge for President An Ratela. Now in recent hours, CAPSAT unit leaders joined together for a video statement telling other military brass that they are in charge. From now on, all orders of the Malagathi army, whether air, land, sea, will originate from CAPSAT headquarters. >> Let's uh cross to Madagascar's capital, Antenna Narivo, where journalist Gil Ba is following development for us. Hello, Gil. Nice to see you again. Now, uh this sounds like a coup attempt is underway. Is it? Um it is difficult to say because you know since this uh the beginning of this movement um Jenzi is saying that it's a popular movement uh it's uh u people from the street who want to express themselves. Um the CAPSAT decided to stop obeying uh orders uh because they think they are part of the population. They experience the same things. Everyone here is has been suffering from power cuts uh from water cuts. Uh they they say they live among the population. So they know what they they are going through. M uh what they said yesterday was we don't want to be paid to kill our sisters, our brothers, uh our friends and that's why they decided to help the protesters to reach the democracy the the tresme square which is a a place well known uh as a contest um protest place in Madagascar. >> Right. So is it known where the president is right now? This is the question everyone is asking uh since uh Saturday. Um the only reaction we have from the the the presidency so far is uh written statement uh published on his uh on the presidency Malagasi presidency's Facebook page. We haven't heard his voice. We haven't seen his face yet. So it's been uh more than 24 hours. uh according to a statement issued by the presidency, President Radwell, he is still on the national territory and he's still in charge. That's all we have. Uh it's an official statement. We know though that uh some um people left especially a former prime minister and uh a businessman who is very close to the president they left uh yesterday evening uh via um private plane. So that's all we have, >> right? I mean it's it's really um interesting what's going on because on the one hand you say it seems the president is still in charge but then you have military that is supposed to be obeying the orders of the president who say they are not going to obey those orders and rather are joining protesters. What is happening? I mean what do you call that? >> Exactly. Exactly. There's a lot of confusion since this morning, since yesterday, since the caps, this uh army unit decided to stop obeying uh the orders uh from uh the chief of the army and this morning they uh nominated a new army chief. So they are saying that now all the orders um will that will be followed by the army in general everyone will have to follow the orders of the new uh army chief that they just nominated. So now all the or the orders come from the caps and this is not legal. Uh I mean normally an an army chief is supposed to be nom nominated uh um in a minister's council and that is not the case. Right. A lot of uncertainty there. Gil Bger, journalist in Antana Narivo, Madagascar. Thank you very much.

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Video Summary

Overview

A military unit in Madagascar called CAPSAT has declared control over all armed forces, joining anti-government protests that began over electricity and water shortages. This represents a direct challenge to President Andry Rajoelina's authority, creating significant political uncertainty.

Key Takeaways

• CAPSAT, an elite army unit, claims control over all military forces and has appointed a new army chief
• Protests began in September over electricity and water shortages and have escalated
• CAPSAT joined protesters, stating they don't want to be "paid to kill our sisters, our brothers"
• President Rajoelina's whereabouts are unknown - only written statements confirm he's still in the country
• The presidency describes this as a "violent attempt to seize power"

Conclusion

Madagascar is experiencing a severe political crisis with a military unit challenging the government's authority, creating confusion about who is in control. The situation remains fluid with significant uncertainty about the president's position and the legitimacy of military leadership.