An army colonel who led a lightning-fast coup takes over as Madagascar’s president

An army colonel who seized power in a military coup was sworn in as Madagascar’s new leader Friday in a lightning-fast power grab that ousted the president and sent him fleeing from the country into hiding.

Col. Michael Randrianirina, the commander of an elite army unit, took the oath of office to become the new president at a ceremony in the main chamber of the nation’s High Constitutional Court and in front of its nine red-robed judges.

His ascent to the presidency came just three days after he announced that the armed forces were taking power in Madagascar, the Indian Ocean island of around 30 million people off Africa’s east coast that had been rocked by three weeks of youth-led anti-government protests.