Madagascar’s President Andry Rajoelina on Tuesday dissolved the national assembly, pre-empting an opposition-led vote to force him out of office over the island nation’s spiralling political crisis.
Rajoelina has faced over two weeks of deadly street clashes, led largely by young demonstrators furious with the ruling elite, forcing the 51-year-old leader into hiding.
The decree to dissolve the assembly “shall enter into force immediately upon its publication by radio and/or television broadcast”, the presidency said in a statement published on Facebook.
Rajoelina, who has defied mounting calls to resign, defended the move in a separate social media post as necessary to “restore order within our nation and strengthen democracy.”
“The People must be heard again. Make way for the youth,” he said in a post on social media.
Opposition leader Siteny Randrianasoloniaiko said Monday they would vote to impeach Rajoelina for desertion of duty following reports he had fled the country.
Rajoelina, a former mayor of the capital Antananarivo, said late Monday he was sheltering in a “safe space” after attempts on his life, without revealing his location.
The protests began on September 25 and reached a pivotal point at the weekend when mutinous soldiers and security forces joined the demonstrators and called for the president and other government ministers to step down.
Among them was the elite CAPSAT unit, which played a major role in the 2009 coup that first brought Rajoelina to power.
To try to defuse the protests, the president last month sacked his entire government.
Radio France Internationale reported that Rajoelina departed Madagascar aboard a French military plane at the weekend but French officials have yet to respond to AFP’s request for confirmation.
Air France said Tuesday it would extend the suspension of its flights to Madagascar at least until Friday because of unrest in the African country.
“The resumption of operations will remain subject to a daily assessment of the situation on the ground,” the French national airline told AFP, as Malagasy President Andry Rajoelina ruled out resigning in the face of protests that have shaken the country.
Air France initially suspended flights over the weekend for two days.
Air Austral, another French airline that serves Madagascar from its base in the Indian Ocean island of La Reunion, told AFP that it was maintaining services while watching the situation.
Rajoelina on Tuesday dissolved the national assembly, pre-empting a planned opposition-led vote to force him out of office over the island nation’s spiralling political crisis.
US President Donald Trump landed in Israel aboard Air Force One on Monday as a first group of Israeli hostages returned home from Gaza after two years’ captivity.
The US leader was greeted on a red carpet at Ben Gurion airport by Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and President Isaac Herzog.
Hamas handed over the first seven of 20 surviving Israeli hostages to Red Cross representatives in Gaza on Monday, sparking cheers of joy in Tel Aviv, where a huge crowd was gathered to support hostage families.
Under a ceasefire agreement brokered by US President Donald Trump after two years of war, Hamas is due to release all surviving hostages on Monday in exchange for Palestinian prisoners held by Israel.
The releases came as Trump headed to the region for a peace summit, having declared the war “over”.
“According to information provided by the Red Cross, seven hostages have been transferred into their custody, and are on their way to IDF and ISA forces in the Gaza Strip,” the Israeli military and security service said.
“The IDF is prepared to receive additional hostages who are expected to be transferred to the Red Cross later on.”
In Tel Aviv, hundreds of people gathered on Hostages Square and erupted in joy as news broke of the first releases.
Among them, Noga shared her pain and joy with AFP.
“I’m torn between emotion and sadness for those who won’t be coming back,” she said.
On October 7, 2023, militants seized 251 hostages during Hamas’s unprecedented attack on Israel, which led to the deaths of 1,219 people, most of them civilians.
All but 47 of the hostages were freed in earlier truces, with the families of those that have remained in captivity leading lives of constant pain and worry for their loved ones.
In Gaza, too, the ceasefire has brought relief, but with much of the territory flattened by war, the road to recovery remains long.
“I returned to Sheikh Radwan with my heart trembling,” 38-year-old Fatima Salem told AFP after she returned to her neighbourhood in Gaza City.
“My eyes kept searching for landmarks I had lost — nothing looked the same, even the neighbours’ houses were gone.
“Despite the exhaustion and fear, I felt like I was coming back to my safe place. I missed the smell of my home, even if it’s now just rubble. We will pitch a tent next to it and wait for reconstruction.”
– ‘War is over. Okay?’ –
Trump’s lightning visit to Israel and Egypt aims to celebrate his role in brokering last week’s ceasefire and hostage release deal — but comes at a precarious time as Israel and Hamas negotiate what comes next.
Under the US president’s proposed roadmap, once the Palestinian militants have handed over the surviving hostages, Israel will begin releasing around 2,000 detainees in exchange.
Israel expects all 20 living hostages to be released to the Red Cross “early Monday morning”, according to a spokesperson for Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office.
Speaking to reporters on Air Force One at the start of the “very special” visit, Trump brushed off concerns about whether the ceasefire would endure.
“I think it’s going to hold. I think people are tired of it. It’s been centuries,” he said of the fighting.
“The war is over. Okay? You understand that?” the US president added.
In Israel, Trump is due to meet the families of hostages before addressing the Israeli parliament in Jerusalem.
– Final details –
His trip is partly a victory lap over the Gaza deal he helped broker with a 20-point peace plan announced in late September.
“Everybody’s very excited about this moment in time,” Trump said earlier as he prepared to board the plane at Joint Base Andrews near Washington.
Negotiators were still wrangling late Sunday over the final arrangements for the exchanges, with two Hamas sources telling AFP the group was insisting that Israel include seven senior Palestinian leaders on the list of those to be released.
Israel has previously rejected at least one of those names.
The sources said the group and its allies had nevertheless “completed all preparations” for handing over to Israel all the living hostages.
Israel does not expect all of the dead hostages to be returned on Monday.
Under the plan, Hamas is to hand over the remaining 47 hostages, as well as the remains of a soldier killed in 2014 during a previous Gaza war.
Among the prisoners to be released, 250 are security detainees, including many convicted of killing Israelis, while about 1,700 were detained by the Israeli army in Gaza during the war.
– Peace summit –
After visiting Israel, Trump will head to Egypt where he and President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi will co-host a summit of more than 20 world leaders to back his plan to end the Gaza war and promote Middle East peace.
Trump will be looking to resolve some of the huge uncertainty around the next phases of the peace plan — including Hamas’s refusal to disarm and Israel’s failure to pledge a full withdrawal from the devastated territory.
Trump insisted he had “guarantees” from both sides and other key regional players about the initial phase of the deal, and the future stages.
Trump also said he would be “proud” to visit Gaza itself, but did not say when such a difficult security challenge would be possible.
A new governing body for devastated Gaza — which Trump himself would head under his own plan — would be established “very quickly,” he added.
Under the plan, as Israel conducts a partial withdrawal from Gaza, it will be replaced by a multi-national force coordinated by a US-led command centre in Israel.
Israel’s campaign in Gaza has killed at least 67,806 people, according to figures from the health ministry in the Hamas-run territory that the United Nations considers credible.
The data does not distinguish between civilians and combatants but indicates that more than half of the dead are women and children.
Ex-Vice-President Atiku Abubakar has accused President Bola Tinubu of abusing the presidential power of mercy by granting pardons and clemency to 175 people, saying the move “undermines the sanctity of justice” and risks encouraging lawlessness.
In a statement via his X handle on Sunday, Atiku said the prerogative of mercy is meant to temper justice with compassion but had been “trivialised” by the latest round of pardons.
Tinubu on Thursday granted presidential pardons to 175 persons, including the late nationalist, Herbert Macaulay, the late Major General Mamman Vatsa, and Maryam Sanda, who was sentenced to death for murdering her husband.
Presenting the full list of beneficiaries in a statement by the Special Adviser to the President on Information and Strategy, Bayo Onanuga, on Saturday, said the decision followed recommendations by the Presidential Advisory Committee on the Prerogative of Mercy, chaired by the Attorney-General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Lateef Fagbemi (SAN).
The pardon also includes presidential clemency, which frees people convicted of offences ranging from homicide, illegal mining to fraud.
Atiku criticised the inclusion of people convicted of serious offences, saying the clemency list weakens public faith in the criminal-justice system and “emboldens criminality.”
He argued that clemency must not be allowed to become complicit with crime and diminish justice.
The statement read, “Ordinarily, the power of presidential pardon is a solemn prerogative, a moral and constitutional instrument designed to temper justice with mercy and to underscore the humanity of the state. When properly exercised, it elevates justice and strengthens public faith in governance.
“Regrettably, the latest pardon issued by the Tinubu administration has done the very opposite. The decision to extend clemency to individuals convicted of grave crimes such as drug trafficking, kidnapping, murder, and corruption not only diminishes the sanctity of justice but also sends a dangerous signal to the public and the international community about the values this government upholds.
“At a time when Nigeria continues to reel under the weight of insecurity, moral decay, and a surge in drug-related offences, it is both shocking and indefensible that the presidency would prioritise clemency for those whose actions have directly undermined national stability and social order.”
Atiku singled out the number of drug-related convictions among those pardoned, saying the decision was particularly troubling given the country’s ongoing fight against narcotics and youth vulnerability.
“Particularly worrisome is the revelation that 29.2% percent of those pardoned were convicted for drug-related crimes at a time when our youth are being destroyed by narcotics, and our nation is still struggling to cleanse its image from the global stain of drug offences,” he stated.
Atiku also referenced “unresolved” questions about President Tinubu’s own past financial and legal entanglements in foreign jurisdictions, saying the timing and composition of the pardons raise “moral and political” concerns.
“Even more disturbing is the moral irony that this act of clemency is coming from a President whose own past remains clouded by unresolved and unexplained issues relating to the forfeiture of thousands of dollars to the United States government over drug-related investigations.
“It is, therefore, no surprise that this administration continues to demonstrate a worrying tolerance for individuals associated with criminal enterprise.”
He added, “A presidential pardon is meant to symbolise restitution and moral reform. Instead, what we have witnessed is a mockery of the criminal justice system, an affront to victims, a demoralisation of law enforcement, and a grave injury to the conscience of the nation.
“Clemency must never be confused with complicity. When a government begins to absolve offenders of the very crimes it claims to be fighting, it erodes the moral authority of leadership and emboldens lawlessness.
“Nigeria deserves a leadership that upholds justice, not one that trivialises it.”
Ex-Vice-President Atiku Abubakar has accused President Bola Tinubu of abusing the presidential power of mercy by granting pardons and clemency to 175 people, saying the move “undermines the sanctity of justice” and risks encouraging lawlessness.
In a statement via his X handle on Sunday, Atiku said the prerogative of mercy is meant to temper justice with compassion but had been “trivialised” by the latest round of pardons.
Tinubu on Thursday granted presidential pardons to 175 persons, including the late nationalist, Herbert Macaulay, the late Major General Mamman Vatsa, and Maryam Sanda, who was sentenced to death for murdering her husband.
Presenting the full list of beneficiaries in a statement by the Special Adviser to the President on Information and Strategy, Bayo Onanuga, on Saturday, said the decision followed recommendations by the Presidential Advisory Committee on the Prerogative of Mercy, chaired by the Attorney-General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Lateef Fagbemi (SAN).
The pardon also includes presidential clemency, which frees people convicted of offences ranging from homicide, illegal mining to fraud.
Atiku criticised the inclusion of people convicted of serious offences, saying the clemency list weakens public faith in the criminal-justice system and “emboldens criminality.”
He argued that clemency must not be allowed to become complicit with crime and diminish justice.
The statement read, “Ordinarily, the power of presidential pardon is a solemn prerogative, a moral and constitutional instrument designed to temper justice with mercy and to underscore the humanity of the state. When properly exercised, it elevates justice and strengthens public faith in governance.
“Regrettably, the latest pardon issued by the Tinubu administration has done the very opposite. The decision to extend clemency to individuals convicted of grave crimes such as drug trafficking, kidnapping, murder, and corruption not only diminishes the sanctity of justice but also sends a dangerous signal to the public and the international community about the values this government upholds.
“At a time when Nigeria continues to reel under the weight of insecurity, moral decay, and a surge in drug-related offences, it is both shocking and indefensible that the presidency would prioritise clemency for those whose actions have directly undermined national stability and social order.”
Atiku singled out the number of drug-related convictions among those pardoned, saying the decision was particularly troubling given the country’s ongoing fight against narcotics and youth vulnerability.
“Particularly worrisome is the revelation that 29.2% percent of those pardoned were convicted for drug-related crimes at a time when our youth are being destroyed by narcotics, and our nation is still struggling to cleanse its image from the global stain of drug offences,” he stated.
Atiku also referenced “unresolved” questions about President Tinubu’s own past financial and legal entanglements in foreign jurisdictions, saying the timing and composition of the pardons raise “moral and political” concerns.
“Even more disturbing is the moral irony that this act of clemency is coming from a President whose own past remains clouded by unresolved and unexplained issues relating to the forfeiture of thousands of dollars to the United States government over drug-related investigations.
“It is, therefore, no surprise that this administration continues to demonstrate a worrying tolerance for individuals associated with criminal enterprise.”
He added, “A presidential pardon is meant to symbolise restitution and moral reform. Instead, what we have witnessed is a mockery of the criminal justice system, an affront to victims, a demoralisation of law enforcement, and a grave injury to the conscience of the nation.
“Clemency must never be confused with complicity. When a government begins to absolve offenders of the very crimes it claims to be fighting, it erodes the moral authority of leadership and emboldens lawlessness.
“Nigeria deserves a leadership that upholds justice, not one that trivialises it.”
Minister of Works, David Umahi, has called on Nigerians at home and abroad to stop de-marketing the country, urging them to promote national unity, optimism, and patriotism.
Umahi, who stated this in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria in Abuja on Sunday, decried what he described as a growing culture of negativity and public condemnation of Nigeria.
“I feel so sad when people demarket the country both outside and inside Nigeria, cursing without knowledge.
“This is because a job is very easy when you are not the one doing it. Let there be a rethink.
“We are all journeying through this life, and there is a need to have lasting treasures beyond this life by putting Nigeria first, by being your brother’s keeper, by doing things with the fear of God.
“I wonder that when our people go outside the country, they suffer more; they pass through all kinds of humiliations and oppressions; they work sometimes for 19 hours, and they obey all the rules.
“But when they come here, they break all the rules. That is not good; let us have hope here. This is the only country you can make 100 per cent doing a job, whereas you can’t make more than 10 per cent outside the country,” he said.
According to him, there are lots of opportunities in Nigeria, stressing, however, that people would not see the light if they decided to close their eyes.
He urged Nigerians to be optimistic, forward-looking and have love for themselves because approaching issues with bitterness and being unappreciative would not do anybody any good.
“There is a saying that ‘forgiveness sets the captive free’, and when you are forgiven, you will find out that you were the captive.
“So let us work with the fear of God and support our government, and of course, engage in constructive criticism. Nigeria is great again.”
Umahi praised President Bola Tinubu’s resilience and commitment in the face of what he described as a terrible economic situation inherited from the previous administration.
He said that the president’s refusal to complain publicly was a mark of leadership courage.
Umahi said as a governor, he knew what the Tinubu administration inherited, explaining that everything became a priority for him, and the burden of debt became so terrible.
“In fact, when I saw the capital projects, I never knew that the debt servicing is drawn from the capital projects, and that is where the problem is.
“So there have been a lot of debts that are kept, and these debts were not used for infrastructure development; otherwise, it would have been a catalyst for development. So it is very important to know that what we inherited was so terrible.
“Everything became a priority, but we shall overcome this. Even our fuel was sold in advance, but it is a matter of courage, and that is why the president is not complaining, but we shall overcome it,” the minister said.
According to him, all the indices show that the reforms are ‘breathing very well,’ noting that inflation has dropped and that the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) growth is over 4.23 per cent, while the foreign reserve has climbed over 42 per cent.
“So all the indices are breathing well, and the worst is over, by the words of the president, and the darkest part of the morning is the dawn. The macroeconomy is doing very well.
“Also, the commitment and infrastructure development are going to cure the seeming hunger because it is going to trickle down to macroeconomy, and that will be a win-win for this nation.
“For me, the president has taken back the nation for us. So forget about the noisemakers. They will always be people making noise, and I will suggest that our generation should also try to work even harder than our forefathers.
“Hard work pays; it is very, very important. Even the Bible professes that he that doesn’t work should not eat,” the minister stated.
US President Donald Trump and his Egyptian counterpart Abdel Fattah al-Sisi will on Monday chair a Gaza peace summit in Sharm el-Sheikh, also attended by world leaders, including the UN chief.
The gathering in the Red Sea resort town will bring together “leaders from more than 20 countries”, Sisi’s office said.
It will aim “to end the war in the Gaza Strip, enhance efforts to achieve peace and stability in the Middle East, and usher in a new era of regional security and stability”.
UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said he will attend, as will Britain’s Prime Minister Keir Starmer, his Italian counterpart Giorgia Meloni and Pedro Sanchez of Spain.
French President Emmanuel Macron and Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan will also travel to Sharm el-Sheikh, according to their offices.
The European Council will be represented by its president, Antonio Costa, a spokesperson said.
“The plan offers a real chance to build a just and sustainable peace, and the EU is fully committed to supporting these efforts and contributing to its implementation,” the spokesperson added.
Jordan’s King Abdullah II is also expected to attend, according to state media.
There was no immediate word on whether Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu would participate, while Hamas has said it will not take part.
Hossam Badran, a Hamas political bureau member, told AFP in an interview that the Palestinian militant group “will not be involved”.
Hamas “acted principally through… Qatari and Egyptian mediators” during previous talks on Gaza, he said.
Voting began Sunday as Cameroon holds presidential elections, which 92-year-old Paul Biya, the world’s oldest serving head of state, is expected to win, extending his already 43-year grip on power.
Biya faces 11 opponents, including former employment minister Issa Tchiroma Bakary, 79, who has generated unexpected enthusiasm among voters in the central African nation, where half the population is under 20.
Polling stations opened at 8:00 am and will close at 6:00 pm (0700 to 1700 GMT).
The eight million Cameroonians who are eligible to vote in the one-round election have, for the most part, only known one ruler in their lifetime.
Biya has been in power since 1982 and has won every election in the past 20 years by more than 70 percent of the ballot.
“We shouldn’t be naive. We know full well the ruling system has ample means at its disposal to get results in its favour,” Cameroonian political scientist Stephane Akoa told AFP.
But he said that the campaign in recent days had been “much livelier” than was usually the case at that stage.
“This poll is therefore more likely to throw up surprises,” he said.
Biya has kept his customary low profile during the campaign, appearing in public on Tuesday for the first time since May, looking visibly fit.
He held a rally in Maroua in the strategic Far North region, which has 1.2 million eligible voters and makes up the second largest voting bloc in the country.
For years, it was considered a Biya stronghold, but several former allies from the area are now running against him.
Youth vote
The 11 rival candidates have made numerous public appearances in recent weeks, each promising a new dawn for Cameroon in place of Biya’s entrenched hold on public life.
The president’s main rival, Bakary, also campaigned in the regional capital, Maroua, this week.
In stark contrast to Biya, whose appearance attracted a sparse crowd of just a few hundred people, Bakary was welcomed in the streets of his home region by thousands of supporters waving placards that hailed “Tchiroma the Saviour”.
Bakary—who resigned from the government in June to join the opposition after 20 years at Biya’s side—is the leading challenger after top opponent Maurice Kamto was barred from the race.
Kamto came second in the 2018 presidential election but was banned from standing this year by the Constitutional Council, a move that rights groups, including Human Rights Watch, said undermined the credibility of the electoral process.
Biya is only the second president Cameroon has had since its independence from France in 1960.
It is Central Africa’s most diversified economy, with an abundance of natural and agricultural resources.
However, around 40 per cent of the population lives below the poverty line, according to World Bank figures for 2024, and unemployment stands at 35 per cent in the major cities.
Young people hunger for change, Akoa said, but not yet to the point where they will take the risk of protesting en masse as in other countries in Africa and Asia.
‘Sign of change’
Cameroonians complain about the high cost of living, a lack of clean drinking water, healthcare and quality education.
But their frustrations remain confined to social media for the time being.
“Many young people intend to vote,” Akoa said.
“There is a positive sign of change, but perhaps not strong enough to bring young people out onto the streets, as we saw in Madagascar, Tunisia, and elsewhere.”
The government has authorised 55,000 local and international observers to monitor the vote, including representatives of the African Union.
The Constitutional Council has until October 26 to announce the final results.
But several internet platforms say they will compile the results independently, drawing criticism from the government, which says they are attempting to manipulate public opinion.
The vote takes place in the shadow of a conflict between separatist forces and the government that has plagued the English-speaking regions since 2016.
Turnout was particularly low in these areas in 2018.
The Presidency on Saturday said President Bola Tinubu’s decision to grant presidential pardon and clemency to 175 Nigerians and foreigners, including late environmental activist Ken Saro-Wiwa, Major General Mamman Vatsa, and other members of the “Ogoni Nine”, was part of efforts to promote fairness, justice, and national unity.
The Presidency also revealed that the President corrected a historical injustice committed by British colonial authorities against Sir Herbert Macaulay, one of Nigeria’s foremost nationalists, who was banned from public office in 1913 after being convicted of misappropriation of funds.
PUNCH Online reports that Tinubu had signed off on pardons for Sir Herbert Macaulay and 174 others.
This marked one of the most expansive uses of the presidential prerogative of mercy, touching on high-profile historical cases.
In a statement signed by Bayo Onanuga, Special Adviser to the President on Information and Strategy, the Presidency explained that the exercise was guided by the recommendations of the Presidential Advisory Committee on the Prerogative of Mercy, chaired by the Attorney-General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Prince Lateef Fagbemi (SAN).
According to Onanuga, Tinubu’s gesture was extended to individuals who had either demonstrated remorse, exhibited good conduct, acquired vocational skills, or shown evidence of reformation during incarceration. Others, he said, benefited due to old age, ill health, or historical injustice.
“Illegal miners, white-collar convicts, remorseful drug offenders, foreigners, Major General Mamman Vatsa, Major Akubo, Professor Magaji Garba, capital offenders such as Maryam Sanda, Ken Saro Wiwa, and the other Ogoni Eight were among the 175 convicts and former convicts who received President Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s mercy on Thursday.
“President Tinubu granted clemency to most of them based on the reports that the convicts had shown remorse and good conduct. He forgave some due to old age, the acquisition of new vocational skills, or enrolment in the National Open University of Nigeria (NOUN). President Tinubu also corrected the historic injustice committed by British colonialists against Sir Herbert Macaulay, one of Nigeria’s foremost nationalists,” the statement read.
Among the beneficiaries of the presidential pardon were Major General Mamman Vatsa, executed in 1986 for alleged coup plotting, and Ken Saro-Wiwa alongside eight other Ogoni activists who were executed in 1995 under the Abacha regime. Their posthumous pardon, Onanuga said, was part of Tinubu’s effort to “heal old wounds and promote national unity.”
A total of 175 convicts and former convicts benefited from the President’s mercy. These included two inmates and 15 former convicts (11 of whom are deceased) granted full pardon, 82 inmates granted clemency, 65 who had their sentences commuted, and seven inmates whose death sentences were reduced to life imprisonment.
Prominent among the living beneficiaries are Farouk Lawan, former lawmaker convicted for corruption; Professor Magaji Garba, former Vice-Chancellor of the Federal University, Gusau; and Maryam Sanda, who was sentenced to death in 2014 for killing her husband.
Sanda’s clemency, according to the Presidency, followed appeals citing her remorse, good behaviour, and the need to care for her two children.
Others pardoned or granted sentence reduction include convicted drug traffickers, illegal miners, and persons convicted of white-collar crimes, several of whom demonstrated good conduct or enrolled in rehabilitation and educational programmes while serving their terms.
The committee’s report, presented during Thursday’s Council of State meeting chaired by President Tinubu, also recommended that the sentences of some death row inmates be commuted to life imprisonment due to their remorse and long periods in confinement.
Onanuga said the exercise was consistent with Section 175 of the 1999 Constitution (as amended), which empowers the President to grant pardons and reprieves after consultation with the Council of State.
The Presidency emphasised that the decision was not taken lightly but was a product of extensive review and recommendations.
Previous reports had indicated that the move was part of a broader effort by the Tinubu administration to decongest custodial centres across the country and promote humane justice reforms.
The full list of beneficiaries, released by the Presidency, includes inmates convicted of drug trafficking, illegal mining, fraud, manslaughter, and other offences. Senator Ikra Aliyu Bilbis has also undertaken to oversee the rehabilitation and empowerment of all pardoned illegal miners.
