By Joshua Tosin Ogunsakin 
The African Union (AU) announced the immediate suspension of Madagascar following a coup in which an elite military unit seized control after President Andry Rajoelina fled the country and was subsequently impeached.
The military took power on Tuesday after the National Assembly voted to remove Rajoelina for ‘desertion of duty’.
“We have taken power,” Colonel Michael Randrianirina, commander of the CAPSAT military unit, told AFP as he read a statement at a government building in the capital.
AFP also reported that the military officers confirmed Randrianirina will be sworn in as transitional president during a “solemn hearing” of Madagascar’s top court scheduled for Friday.
“The country is suspended with immediate effect,” AU Commission chair Mahamoud Ali Youssouf told AFP, following the top court’s confirmation of Colonel Michael Randrianirina as president, plunging the impoverished Indian Ocean nation into political turmoil.