Overview

• CAPSAT officers said all military orders now originate from their headquarters and escorted crowds into Antananarivo’s May 13 Square after urging forces not to shoot.
• General Demosthene Pikulas was installed as army chief at a ceremony attended by the armed forces minister, who publicly offered his blessing.
• The presidency condemned what it called an attempted illegal seizure of power and urged a dialogue-based resolution to the crisis.
• The security chain splintered as the gendarmerie acknowledged “faults and excesses” in prior operations and declared it would take orders only from its own command center.
• International concern intensified, with a U.S. shelter-in-place advisory, African Union and South Africa calls for restraint, and suspended flights, as the UN’s death toll of at least 22 remained disputed by the government.