Commotion within the army: reinforcements called to the rescue

Antananarivo’s soldiers seemingly do no more want to appear in the executioners’ suits unleashed against reactionaries to the High Authority of Transition. According to independent sources, some elements would have begun to refuse to enlarge the ranks of the mixed police forces’ joint headquarters. 

It is not a comfortable situation for pro-Rajoelina military command. The High Authority of Transition is currently compelled to resort to squads based outside the central region in order to master the political mobilities opposed to its unilateral moves. 

Soldiers from the region of Antsiranana (North) have been sent to the capital city. The situation is obviously not to demonstrators’ likings either. 

Political formations striving to thwart the HAT unilateral actions have, for some weeks, been calling soldiers to keep away from political quarrels, without results. Some soldiers’ recent refusal to repress the opposition’s demonstrations yet constitutes a new source of hope for the opposition. 

In 2009, Marc Ravalomanana’s fall started with soldiers’ refusal to obey him. Since the beginning of the political crisis, the army’s division has been very hard to cover. Andry Rajoelina’s putsch did not help. Now, he is still standing by the armed forces’ most active fringe to remain in power.