Mutiny in the paratroopers’ ranks, quite a thrilling Sunday for the Malagasy armed forces

Early in the morning at around 5 am, soldiers penetrated the RFI 1 Base Camp in a couple of 4WD. For being part of this very regiment, they first tried to win their fellow soldiers to their cause.

The rebels did anyway not have to deal with any resistance of any kind as they took control of the weapons and ammunition storage room, the most strategic location in a military facility. On Sundays, the base camp is usually occupied by mere young recruits.

The soldiers who took control of the base let it be known by firing in the air, and waking the whole neighborhood of Ivato up. So began the paratroopers’ officers’ rebellion.

Its leader was Corporal Kotomainty, commonly nicknamed “Black”. At around 10 am, the army formally informed of the tackling of negotiations as a way to deal with this actual mutiny.

A delegation of some twelve unarmed men took charge and moved forward. The rebels did however not fancy any kind of talks at all, ordered the negotiators to stay away and finally opened fire.

The unarmed negotiators dashed back scurrying for safety, but not all of them did. Two men were told to have been wounded. Shortly after, news reported that a captain and a trooper were killed in action. This was the breakpoint.

The state police’s special forces cleared for action and subsequently launched the retaliation for the government forces. The HAT’s private intervention force was equally noticed in Ivato but did not seem much involved into the operation.

Other regiment forces progressively joined the siege thereafter. Richard Ravalomanana’s famous Emmo Reg did not join the front line this time around and merely committed to secure the area.

Inside, NCOs and soldiers waged a bitter struggle for their lives. Shots lasted hours, even though many of them were mere deterrent. Two mutineers were brought down and two others wounded

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A government forces’ commander was slightly wounded in the operation. Besides, a police officer working at the international airport on Ivato located less than a mile away from the besieged military camp was equally wounded. The airport was closed, but the security measure did not prevent an African airline aircraft from landing in and immediately taking off.

At 19 hours, government forces finally regained control of the base camp. At least 150 men would have surrendered. The real number of mutineers has not yet been established. They might have been twenty, and convinced some others to dig in.

Many new recruits did not know how to react with the rifle they had, conceded a general. In any case, thirty of them escaped the camp by jumping over the basewall, an incident potentially proving the forced enlisting.

The leader of the mutineers, Corporal Kotomainty, was killed. This soldier previously was a bodyguard serving General Noel Rakotonandrasana, a mutineer who supported Andry Rajoelina when he was bringing President Ravalomanana down. The general is now behind bars for another mutiny attempted on November 17th, 2010, against … Andry Rajoelina.

A senior military official argued that eight soldiers would have been this operation’s masterminds. The involvement of a general would arguably not be ruled out. Four civilians have already been arrested. Two of them followed the rebelling paratroopers in the morning and shared money out to the soldiers.

In the evening, 40 trainees and 70 soldiers have been controlled. Senior military officers finally quite officially denied any potential preparation of a military direction board in Madagascar.