Troops staged a mutiny near Madagascar’s main airport on Sunday, forcing the suspension of all flights, but the situation is now under control, the defence minister said.
Gunfire erupted at a military base near Antananarivo international airport at 6:00 am (0300 GMT) and abated after four hours but then resumed intermittently, scaring off dozens of curious spectators, an AFP journalist said. “This morning there was indeed a mutiny led by certain elements. The chief of staff has things in hand,” Defence Minister Andre Lucien Rakotoarimasy told AFP.
“It’s going on, we don’t know anything about their demands for the moment,” he added, refusing to specify the number of mutineers. The leader of the renegade troops was identified as Koto Mainty, or the “Black Corporal”, a former member of the mutinous regiment said, adding that several young recruits had joined him. The mutiny comes ahead of a meeting of the Indian ocean island nation’s rival leaders to try to resolve a political crisis that has dragged on since an army-backed coup in 2009 which toppled president Marc Ravalomanana. Strongman Andry Rajoelina and the ousted leader, who is living in exile in South Africa, signed a roadmap in September 2011 meant to guide Madagascar to new elections, but the deal still has not been fully implemented. A diplomatic source suggested that Sunday’s mutiny was aimed at disrupting the meeting between Rajoelina and Ravalomanana to be held in the Seychelles on Wednesday.
