Overview

• President Andry Rajoelina presided over a state ceremony in Antananarivo on Tuesday as the coffins, draped in the national flag, were received at the Avaratr'Ambohitsaina mausoleum.
• The remains arrived late Monday after a handover in Paris last week and are now on a multi‑day, roughly 800‑kilometer road procession toward Menabe for planned inhumation by the end of the week.
• A joint scientific committee confirmed the remains are Sakalava, while the identification of one skull as King Toera is described as presumptive.
• The handover marks the first application of France’s 2023 law enabling the return of human remains from public collections after more than a century in the Muséum national d'histoire naturelle.
• Rival Kamamy clans voiced differing views on final custody and burial location, with newly intronized Harea Georges Kamamy calling for traditional protocols and Joe Kamamy favoring conservation at Mitsinjo.