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Madagascar on Sunday announced the arrest of five generals as well as high-ranking police officers in connection with a failed attempt to assassinate President Andry Rajoelina, the attorney general said.
“To date, 21 people have been arrested and investigated,” Berthine Razafiarivony told a news briefing.
Six people, including two French citizens, were initially arrested on suspicion of involvement in the attempt.
Among the latest arrests, “12 are active military and police personnel, including five generals, two captains and five non-commissioned officers,” she said.
Four of those arrested are retired national and foreign police and military personnel, and five are civilians, she said.
Authorities seized 209 300 euros ($250 000), two cars and a shotgun, according to Razafiarivony.
Reports of the assassination plot came after several months of turbulence in the island nation, with threats directed at journalists reporting on the country’s coronavirus pandemic and a burgeoning famine in the south of the country.
Rajoelina, 47, first seized power in March 2009 from Marc Ravalomanana with the backing of the military.
He won the last vote in December 2018, beating Ravalomanana in an election beset by fraud allegations.
Meanwhile, Tunisian security forces have arrested two MPs from an Islamist party opposed to a power grab by President Kais Saied, their party said Sunday.
Maher Zid and Mohamed Affes of Al-Karama have been placed in provisional detention in connection with a military investigation, party head Seifeddine Makhlouf wrote on Facebook.
Al-Karama is allied to the Islamist-inspired Ennahdha party, the main opponent of the president.
Their arrest late Saturday came a day after the detention of an independent MP, Yassine Ayari.
Ayari was arrested after branding Saied’s decision last Sunday to suspend parliament and sack the prime minister and other top officials a “military coup”.
Tunisia’s military court said he was arrested pursuant to a two-month prison sentence passed in late 2018 for criticising the army.
Rights groups including Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch have expressed concern over his arrest.
Affes is a former ultra-conservative cleric and Zid is a former journalist and blogger sentenced to two years in jail for insulting late president Beji Caid Essebsi.
Makhlouf, a lawyer critical of the president, said he himself, Zid and Affes were wanted for having allegedly insulted police officers in March who prevented a woman from boarding a plane at Tunis airport.
The prosecutor’s office was not immediately available for comment, and the military court has not provided details.-France24
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