{"id":4611,"date":"2026-02-11T23:43:36","date_gmt":"2026-02-11T23:43:36","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/en\/home\/eswatini-hosts-rajoelina-angers-madagascar"},"modified":"2026-02-12T01:24:47","modified_gmt":"2026-02-12T01:24:47","slug":"eswatini-hosts-rajoelina-angers-madagascar","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/en\/policy\/eswatini-hosts-rajoelina-angers-madagascar","title":{"rendered":"Eswatini Hosts Rajoelina, Angers Madagascar"},"content":{"rendered":"

Africa-Press. <\/strong> <\/span>Madagascar\u2019s military government has criticized Eswatini for hosting ousted president Andry Rajoelina last week, describing the visit as a \u201cserious violation\u201d of its sovereignty.<\/p>\n

Last Friday, Eswatini\u2019s government released photos of King Mswati III meeting Rajoelina and calling on Madagascar\u2019s military council to restore constitutional order.<\/p>\n

In a statement, Madagascar\u2019s army chief, Colonel Michael Randrianarivelo, expressed his \u201cstrongest condemnation\u201d of the visit, calling it \u201cpolitically unacceptable.\u201d Rajoelina was ousted in October by a military elite after weeks of youth-led protests on the Indian Ocean island. Demonstrations erupted over persistent shortages of electricity and water, culminating in the army siding with protesters.<\/p>\n

This marked the first time the ousted president had been seen in a diplomatic meeting since fleeing Madagascar. King Mswati III\u2019s office said the meeting was part of Eswatini\u2019s regional diplomatic mediation role and was not intended to interfere in Madagascar\u2019s internal affairs.<\/p>\n

In its statement, Madagascar\u2019s military leadership said Rajoelina had voluntarily renounced his Malagasy nationality after obtaining another citizenship, warning that any attempt to portray himself as Madagascar\u2019s legitimate representative \u201chas no legal basis.\u201d<\/p>\n

The statement added that the situation is particularly serious as Rajoelina was head of state during the tragic events of September and October 2025, which left around 30 Malagasy citizens dead.<\/p>\n

Military authorities said hosting Rajoelina in Eswatini could undermine the ongoing national reconciliation process and efforts to restore constitutional rule in Madagascar.<\/p>\n

In a response issued Monday, Percy Simelane, spokesperson for the monarchy, said the ousted leader was not seeking \u201cprotection or intervention\u201d from the Kingdom of Eswatini. He noted that the king had consulted the regional bloc, the Southern African Development Community (SADC), before meeting Rajoelina.<\/p>\n

\u201cAttacking the people of Eswatini is wrong and unfortunate,\u201d he added. Randrianarivelo pledged to hold new elections within two years. In December, SADC urged Madagascar\u2019s military authorities to present a roadmap for restoring democracy, including plans for new elections by February 28.<\/p>\n

Find more news and analyses on Africa<\/span> on the Africa Press<\/span> website<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Africa-Press. Madagascar\u2019s military government has criticized Eswatini for hosting ousted president Andry Rajoelina last week, describing the visit as a \u201cserious violation\u201d of its sovereignty. Last Friday, Eswatini\u2019s government released photos of King Mswati III meeting Rajoelina and calling on Madagascar\u2019s military council to restore constitutional order. In a statement, Madagascar\u2019s army chief, Colonel Michael […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":84,"featured_media":4610,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[40],"tags":[120],"class_list":{"0":"post-4611","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-policy","8":"tag-africa"},"yoast_head":"\nEswatini Hosts Rajoelina, Angers Madagascar - Africa Press English<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"-article-header-tag"> Africa-Press. Madagascar\u2019s military government has crit ...\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/en\/policy\/eswatini-hosts-rajoelina-angers-madagascar\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Eswatini Hosts Rajoelina, Angers Madagascar\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"-article-header-tag"> Africa-Press. Madagascar\u2019s military government has crit ...\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/en\/policy\/eswatini-hosts-rajoelina-angers-madagascar\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Africa Press English\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2026-02-11T23:43:36+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2026-02-12T01:24:47+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/africa-home\/sites\/69\/2026\/02\/sm_1770859373.206269.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1024\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"575\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"cfeditoren\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"cfeditoren\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/en\/policy\/eswatini-hosts-rajoelina-angers-madagascar#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/en\/policy\/eswatini-hosts-rajoelina-angers-madagascar\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"cfeditoren\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/en\/#\/schema\/person\/068c7ab4e9634ae78ec5d54ec46598bb\"},\"headline\":\"Eswatini Hosts Rajoelina, Angers Madagascar\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-02-11T23:43:36+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2026-02-12T01:24:47+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/en\/policy\/eswatini-hosts-rajoelina-angers-madagascar\"},\"wordCount\":342,\"commentCount\":0,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/en\/policy\/eswatini-hosts-rajoelina-angers-madagascar#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/africa-home\/sites\/69\/2026\/02\/sm_1770859373.206269.jpg\",\"keywords\":[\"Africa\"],\"articleSection\":[\"Policy\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/en\/policy\/eswatini-hosts-rajoelina-angers-madagascar#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/en\/policy\/eswatini-hosts-rajoelina-angers-madagascar\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/en\/policy\/eswatini-hosts-rajoelina-angers-madagascar\",\"name\":\"Eswatini Hosts Rajoelina, Angers Madagascar - Africa Press English\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/en\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/en\/policy\/eswatini-hosts-rajoelina-angers-madagascar#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/en\/policy\/eswatini-hosts-rajoelina-angers-madagascar#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/africa-home\/sites\/69\/2026\/02\/sm_1770859373.206269.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-02-11T23:43:36+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2026-02-12T01:24:47+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/en\/#\/schema\/person\/068c7ab4e9634ae78ec5d54ec46598bb\"},\"description\":\"-article-header-tag\\\"> Africa-Press. Madagascar\u2019s military government has crit ...\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/en\/policy\/eswatini-hosts-rajoelina-angers-madagascar#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/en\/policy\/eswatini-hosts-rajoelina-angers-madagascar\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/en\/policy\/eswatini-hosts-rajoelina-angers-madagascar#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/africa-home\/sites\/69\/2026\/02\/sm_1770859373.206269.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/africa-home\/sites\/69\/2026\/02\/sm_1770859373.206269.jpg\",\"width\":1024,\"height\":575,\"caption\":\"Eswatini Hosts Rajoelina, Angers Madagascar\"},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/en\/policy\/eswatini-hosts-rajoelina-angers-madagascar#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/en\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Eswatini Hosts Rajoelina, Angers Madagascar\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/en\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/en\/\",\"name\":\"Africa Press English\",\"description\":\"\u0623\u0648\u0644 \u0645\u0648\u0642\u0639 \u0625\u0641\u0631\u064a\u0642\u064a \u064a\u0643\u062a\u0628 \u0628\u0644\u063a\u0629 \u0628\u0644\u062f\u0627\u0646\u0647\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/en\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/en\/#\/schema\/person\/068c7ab4e9634ae78ec5d54ec46598bb\",\"name\":\"cfeditoren\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO Premium plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Eswatini Hosts Rajoelina, Angers Madagascar - Africa Press English","description":"-article-header-tag\"> Africa-Press. Madagascar\u2019s military government has crit ...","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/en\/policy\/eswatini-hosts-rajoelina-angers-madagascar","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Eswatini Hosts Rajoelina, Angers Madagascar","og_description":"-article-header-tag\"> Africa-Press. Madagascar\u2019s military government has crit ...","og_url":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/en\/policy\/eswatini-hosts-rajoelina-angers-madagascar","og_site_name":"Africa Press English","article_published_time":"2026-02-11T23:43:36+00:00","article_modified_time":"2026-02-12T01:24:47+00:00","og_image":[{"width":1024,"height":575,"url":"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/africa-home\/sites\/69\/2026\/02\/sm_1770859373.206269.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"cfeditoren","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"cfeditoren","Est. reading time":"2 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/en\/policy\/eswatini-hosts-rajoelina-angers-madagascar#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/en\/policy\/eswatini-hosts-rajoelina-angers-madagascar"},"author":{"name":"cfeditoren","@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/en\/#\/schema\/person\/068c7ab4e9634ae78ec5d54ec46598bb"},"headline":"Eswatini Hosts Rajoelina, Angers Madagascar","datePublished":"2026-02-11T23:43:36+00:00","dateModified":"2026-02-12T01:24:47+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/en\/policy\/eswatini-hosts-rajoelina-angers-madagascar"},"wordCount":342,"commentCount":0,"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/en\/policy\/eswatini-hosts-rajoelina-angers-madagascar#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/africa-home\/sites\/69\/2026\/02\/sm_1770859373.206269.jpg","keywords":["Africa"],"articleSection":["Policy"],"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/en\/policy\/eswatini-hosts-rajoelina-angers-madagascar#respond"]}]},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/en\/policy\/eswatini-hosts-rajoelina-angers-madagascar","url":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/en\/policy\/eswatini-hosts-rajoelina-angers-madagascar","name":"Eswatini Hosts Rajoelina, Angers Madagascar - Africa Press English","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/en\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/en\/policy\/eswatini-hosts-rajoelina-angers-madagascar#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/en\/policy\/eswatini-hosts-rajoelina-angers-madagascar#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/africa-home\/sites\/69\/2026\/02\/sm_1770859373.206269.jpg","datePublished":"2026-02-11T23:43:36+00:00","dateModified":"2026-02-12T01:24:47+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/en\/#\/schema\/person\/068c7ab4e9634ae78ec5d54ec46598bb"},"description":"-article-header-tag\"> Africa-Press. Madagascar\u2019s military government has crit ...","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/en\/policy\/eswatini-hosts-rajoelina-angers-madagascar#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/en\/policy\/eswatini-hosts-rajoelina-angers-madagascar"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/en\/policy\/eswatini-hosts-rajoelina-angers-madagascar#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/africa-home\/sites\/69\/2026\/02\/sm_1770859373.206269.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/africa-home\/sites\/69\/2026\/02\/sm_1770859373.206269.jpg","width":1024,"height":575,"caption":"Eswatini Hosts Rajoelina, Angers Madagascar"},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/en\/policy\/eswatini-hosts-rajoelina-angers-madagascar#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/en\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Eswatini Hosts Rajoelina, Angers Madagascar"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/en\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/en\/","name":"Africa Press English","description":"\u0623\u0648\u0644 \u0645\u0648\u0642\u0639 \u0625\u0641\u0631\u064a\u0642\u064a \u064a\u0643\u062a\u0628 \u0628\u0644\u063a\u0629 \u0628\u0644\u062f\u0627\u0646\u0647","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/en\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/en\/#\/schema\/person\/068c7ab4e9634ae78ec5d54ec46598bb","name":"cfeditoren"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4611","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/84"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4611"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4611\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/4610"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4611"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4611"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4611"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}