Madagascar President Rajoelina flees amid military-backed protests

Madagascar President Andry Rajoelina said he fled the country in fear for his life following a military rebellion, but did not announce his resignation in a speech broadcast on national television late Monday from an undisclosed location.

Rajoelina has faced weeks of Gen Z-led anti-government protests, which reached a pivotal point on Saturday when an elite military unit joined the demonstrations and called for the president and other government ministers to step down.

That prompted Rajoelina to say that an illegal attempt to seize power was underway in the Indian Ocean island and leave the country.

"I was forced to find a safe place to protect my life," Rajoelina said in his late-night speech, which was delayed for hours after soldiers attempted to take control of the state broadcaster buildings, the president's office said.

They were Rajoelina's first public comments since the CAPSAT military unit turned against his government in an apparent coup and joined thousands of protesters rallying in a main square in the capital, Antananarivo, over the weekend.

Rajoelina called for dialogue “to find a way out of this situation” and said the constitution should be respected.

He did not say how he left Madagascar or where he was, but a report claimed he was flown out of the country on a French military plane.

The anti-government protests, which began on September 25 over chronic water and electricity outages, have snowballed into wider discontent with Rajoelina and his government.

It is the most significant unrest in the island nation of 31 million people off the east coast of Africa since Rajoelina himself first came to power as the leader of a transitional government following a 2009 military-backed coup.