Madagascar president to make a speech after soldiers turned against the government in apparent coup

Madagascar President Andry Rajoelina was due to make a speech on national television on Monday after an elite military unit turned against the government in an apparent coup in the Indian Ocean nation and called for Rajoelina to step down.

Rajoelina’s office said that his speech would be broadcast on state television and radio at 7 p.m. local time (1600 GMT), but didn’t say if the president was still in Madagascar amid reports he had fled following weeks of deadly anti-government protests.

Those protests, which were initially led by youth groups, reached a turning point on Saturday when soldiers from the elite CAPSAT military unit accompanied demonstrators to a square in the capital, Antananarivo, and called for Rajoelina and several government ministers to leave office.

The unit, which helped Rajoelina first come to power as transitional leader in a military-backed coup in 2009, said that it had taken charge of