In December of last year, the Madagascan Radio Viva was closed down by authorities after airing an interview with Didier Ratsiraka, the exiled former president åof the country. The owner of the station, Andry Rajoelina, would be formally installed as the new President of Madagascar only a few months later. This coup d'etat, or "unconstitutional overthrow of a government", is the latest episode of Madagascar's turbulent political history.

On January 26th, Rajoelina called for peaceful protests in the capital, Antananarivo, but things turned ugly when the tens of thousands of angry Madagascans set the state-owned television and radio stations on fire.  Rajoelina was speaking fiery rhetoric of his own, and vowed that the demonstrations would continue on an almost daily basis. Denouncing Marc Ravalomanana as a dictator, he also asserted that no negotiations with the president would take place until military personnel, who had murdered one of his supporters, were held to account. By the end of the month, Rajoelina had proclaimed himself as the leader of the country.

The coup faced fierce opposition from abroad.  The very next day, the African Union announced that it would not support any attempt to overthrow Ravalomanana, with AU Head Jean Ping stating: "any unconstitutional change of government will be condemned."

A couple of days later, there was a sense of inevitability when Rajoelina was sacked from his position as Mayor of Antananarivo.  The Madagascan equivalent of Boris Johnson, although it's hard to imagine the blond-haired bumbling Etonian fathoming the same kind of inspiration for the people.

The protests continued in the capital nonetheless - not for days, not for hours, but for weeks.  On February 7th, at least 28 were killed and hundreds more injured when police opened fire on one such demonstration.  Rajoelina was again vocal in denouncing the government, this time accusing them of murdering civilians.  Tensions continued to rise, and Antananarivo began to nurture the atmosphere of a volcano on the brink of eruption.  On February 16th, police fired warning shots in a bid to disperse a crowd of 10,000 anti-government demonstrators, again led by Rajoelina. The numbers were growing.

Throughout history, revolutions or overthrows of power often owe some of their success to the support of the army. In this view, March 8th marked a significant turning point; 70 soldiers mutinied at a large military camp just outside the capital, saying they would defy government order to repress civilians.  It wasn't quite the Kronstadt of the Russian revolution, but it did seem to signify a change in the balance of power.

Ravalomanana's offer of a referendum was rejected, and on March 16th Madagascan troops stormed the presidential palace. Ravalomanana was initially defiant, vowing to fight to the death, but by the next day he had handed over power to Hyppolite Ramaroson, the most senior military official, who in turn gave power to Rajoelina.

But the story was far from over - within two days, the United States had announced a suspension of all non-humanitarian aid, and Norway had frozen funding usually worth at least $14 million per year. Mozambique, Angola and Swaziland, making up the defence, political and security troika of the SADC, all refused to recognise the new leader, and the African Union suspended Madagascar as a member, demanding for elections to be held within six months.

On March 21st, Rajoelina was officially sworn in as president of Madagascar.  At 34 years of age, he is actually six years too young to be leader, under the Madagascan constitution.

With thousands of angry Madagascans filling the streets, angry at what they see as a violent and illegitimate rise to power, chants of "Come back our father, come back Ravalo" echoing around the aptly-named "Democracy Square", it seems that the country's turbulent political history is set to continue for the time being.