Following what officials in the Indian Ocean island country claimed was a months-long investigation, police in Madagascar detained six people, including one foreign citizen, suspected of planning to assassinate the president this week.

Officials declined to say how big the scheme was or how far along it was when the suspects were caught. The nationality of the foreign person allegedly engaged was not specified in the attorney general's statement. Six persons were detained: one foreign citizen, two dual citizens, and three Madagascans, according to a second statement released by the public security minister on Wednesday.

Assassination plot against Madagascar president halted

Per Newsweek, Attorney General Berthine Razafiarivony said in a statement that these persons created a plot to eliminate and neutralize several people, including the president of the United States, according to the information they possessed.

One of those detained by police is a foreigner; two are dual nationalities; and three are Madagascar natives, according to a separate statement from Madagascar's public security minister. Two of the persons arrested in connection with the assassination plot are French nationals. According to reports, the two French individuals are retired military officers.

Andry Rajoelina, 47, initially took control in the Indian Ocean island country in March 2009, following the military-backed coup that deposed President Marc Ravalomanana. The president, who was 34 at the time, was Africa's youngest president. Rajoelina was the mayor of Antananarivo, the country's capital, before the coup. He began his career as a Disc jockey and later moved into media and advertising before entering politics.

Rajoelina initially took control in the impoverished former French colony of 26 million people in March 2009, when he deposed Marc Ravalomanana in a coup. Until 2014, he stayed in power as the head of a transitional government. Ravalomanana ran against Rajoelina in the 2019 elections, lost, and claimed fraud.

Regularly, nine out of ten Madagascans survive on less than $2. Climate change and deforestation have compounded the island's worst drought in 40 years in the south, as per Reuters via MSN.

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Madagascar has a long history of turmoil, coups

Madagascar is the world's fourth biggest island, covering about 227,000 square kilometers (587,000 square miles). It is larger than Spain or Thailand. The country is known across the globe for its distinctive wildlife and vanilla; however, since its independence from France in 1960, it has had a lengthy history of coups and turmoil.

The assassination plan comes amid months of unrest and threats against journalists covering the country's Covid-19 pandemic and looming famine in the south. On June 26, the gendarmerie reported that an assassination attempt on their commander, General Richard Ravalomanana, who is also Rajoelina's right-hand man, had been stopped.

Nine television and radio programs were censored in April because they were likely to disrupt public order and security, as well as undermine national unity. Rivo Rakotovao, a former caretaker president, said he opposed any assassination attempt but was concerned that the statement may be a prelude to Rajoelina taking a firmer grip on power, which is already under threat.

Before exploding into the political scene in 2007, Rajoelina built a name for himself in event management and journalism. He got the moniker "Disc Jockey" for the parties he used to throw in the capital Antananarivo by projecting a youthful, dynamic image.

He used his own Viva broadcasting station to help create a national following after becoming the city's mayor, positioning himself as Ravalomanana's main opponent. He came to power in 2009 as the chairman of a transitional authority and pushed through a constitutional reform that, among other things, decreased the presidential candidate's minimum age from 40 to 35, allowing him to run for the presidency.

Rajoelina did not run in the 2013 election due to international pressure and instead endorsed his winning former finance minister, Hery Rajaonarimampianina. However, the two swiftly became estranged. After fiercely contested elections in which he staged expensive rallies with performance artists and pyrotechnics, he was elected in December 2018. Since the Covid-19 pandemic hit last year, the country has been under lockdown; and its southern area is amid a famine, AFP through MSN reported.

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