By Hannatu Sadiq
Madagascar has arrested 21 more suspects in connection to the planned coup to kill President Andry Rajoelina and topple the government, a senior prosecutor said.
The suspects included 12 military personnel, four retired foreigners and five civilians, some of whom were being held in police custody, according to Reuters.
Six people were arrested last month, one of which was a French citizen, on suspicion of involvement in the plot, following what officials described as a months-long investigation in the Indian Ocean Island.
Berthine Razafiarivony, of the Antananarivo court of appeal, revealed on Sunday that the military personnel who were arrested included five generals from the army and the gendarmerie and two captains and five non-commissioned officers, whose identities she withheld.
“The physical evidence in the hands of the investigators is tangible and made it possible to identify the main instigators of the operation,” Razafiarivony said.
President Rajoelina first toppled Marc Ravalomanana in a March 2009 coup in the former French colony of 26 million.
He remained in control at the head of a transitional government until 2014. In the 2018 elections, Ravalomanana challenged Rajoelina and lost.
