Madagascar police arrest six over alleged plot to kill President

Police in Madagascar this week arrested six people, including one foreign citizen suspected of plotting to kill the president following what officials said was a month-long investigation.

Madagascar has a history of political violence. Former 44-year-old coup leader Andry Rajoelina was sworn in  as President in 2019 after a hard-fought election and a constitutional court challenge from his rival.

“According to the evidence in our possession, these individuals had devised a plan for the elimination and neutralisation of a number of people including the Head of State,” the Attorney General said in a statement.

It added that investigations were still ongoing. The arrests were made on Tuesday.

Rajoelina first seized power in the deeply impoverished former French colony of 26 million in a March 2009 coup, ousting Marc Ravalomanana. He remained in control as the head of a transitional government until 2014.

In the 2019 elections, Ravalomanana challenged Rajoelina, lost, and cried fraud.

Nine out of 10 Madagascans live on less than $2 a day. Climate change and deforestation have exacerbated the worst drought for four decades in the south of the island.

Olajumoke Adeleke/Reuters