Madagascar police arrests suspects over president assassination plot

Antananarivo, Jul 22 (EFE).- Madagascar police arrested several people on suspicion of plotting to kill president Andry Rajoelina, according to the attorney general of the Antananarivo Court of Appeal.

The individuals had devised a plan to eliminate and neutralize a number of people in government, including the president, the attorney general said in a statement.

Among the suspects, who were arrested on Tuesday, are foreign nationals and Malagasies, officials said. The nationality of the foreign suspects were not specified.

Rajoelina was sworn in as president for a second mandate in 2019, after defeating his opposition Marc Ravalomanana in a hard-fought election. His first mandate was from 2009 to 2014.

The Indian Ocean island has been mired in a political crisis for almost a decade after Rajoelina ousted former president Marc Ravalomanana (2002-2009) from power in a bloody coup d’état in which hundreds of people were killed.EFE

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