Madagascar President Marc Ravalomanana vowed on Tuesday to die with his last remaining guards if necessary after the army stormed his office in the capital and demanded he quit.
A three-month standoff between Ravalomanana and opposition leader Andry Rajoelina, in which more than 100 people have died, came to a head late on Monday when about 100 soldiers backed by tanks took over the presidential office.
The army powered into the presidential compound in the city centre after dusk in an assault marked by two large explosions and a flurry of automatic gunfire.
Tanks, army vehicles and soldiers were deployed around the compound on Tuesday.
Ravalomanana and a handful of loyalist presidential guard were holed up in his Iavoloha palace, about 8km from the city centre office.
The army said it had no immediate plan to attack the palace but demanded the speedy resignation of Ravalomanana, president of the Indian Ocean island for the last seven years. He won a second five-year term in elections in late 2006.
The president, however, was in a defiant mood and attempted to dispel intense speculation that he would go into exile, according to presidential spokesperson Andry Ralijaona.
”I am staying with you and if I have to die, I will die with you,” the spokesperson quoted Ravalomanana as telling his remaining guards in the palace.
”The president is still in Iavoloha. He is saddened by what is happening,” Ralijaona told AFP.
”Considering the problem, what is happening is disproportionate … This problem could have been solved had there been willingness on both sides.”
After losing control over the army last week and suffering defections within his own guard, Ravalomanana proposed a referendum to decide his feud with opposition leader Rajoelina.
Rajoelina rejected the offer on Monday and the army made it clear which side it is backing. ”We seized the presidency to hasten Ravalomanana’s departure,” the army chief said on Monday.
‘Supporting anarchy’
No incidents were reported overnight but security forces were on high alert as Rajoelina was again expected to address his supporters and deliver a ”victory speech”.
Rajoelina, a 34-year-old DJ-turned-businessman who has led popular opposition to the government, has urged the country’s security forces to arrest the president for ”high treason”.
The warrant was issued by the parallel opposition administration, which was set up last month by Rajoelina and has not been recognised internationally.
Rajoelina, accusing his rival of being a dictator starving his people, has used his charisma and own private television station to mount a brazen challenge on the country’s top office.
Ravalomanana said in a statement on Monday that Rajoelina’s claim to power was illegitimate and argued that his rejection of a last-ditch offer for a referendum to decide the outcome was tantamount to ”supporting anarchy”.
On Monday, the African Union’s Peace and Security Council convened an emergency meeting over the crisis and warned it would condemn any unconstitutional change of power.
Another meeting was due to kick off at the continental body’s headquarters in Addis Ababa at 4pm local time.
Western governments have warned against the violent overthrow of Ravalomanana, with the European Union warning it would not recognise any new leader imposed by force.
”If a new head of state is established by pure force, by military force, it is not somebody we consider,” said Czech Foreign Minister Karel Schwarzenberg, whose country holds the EU’s rotating presidency. — Sapa-AFP