Madagascar: We've had enough of you, officers tell coup leader as island votes

A MILITARY takeover has been reported on the African island of Madagascar, just as the ruling junta held a referendum on a new constitution intended to keep it in power.

A group of officers said they now controlled the island off southeast Africa.

But president Andry Rajoelina, a former disc jockey who seized power with army backing last year, appeared confident he would retain control, even though the officers' claims undermined the message he had hoped yesterday's poll would send - that he had popular support.

The officers said in a statement, broadcast only in part on one independent TV station, that they had had enough of Mr Rajoelina, and of the isolation and misery his March 2009 coup had caused.

Mr Rajoelina, speaking outside the polling station in the capital, Antananarivo, where he had cast his vote, said most of the army backed him.

"They've threatened me with death if I don't step down," Mr Rajoelina said. "But I'm not afraid of threats."

Prime minister Camille Vital appeared on TV to denounce the officers as mutineers.

Colonel Charles Andrianasoavina, who last year backed Mr Rajoelina's move to take power, said the military would pursue national reconciliation.

He also said he was dissolving government institutions and putting in place a national committee to lead the country at least provisionally. He said political prisoners would be freed and called on exiles to return "to work together to save our fatherland". He would not say who would form the provisional governing committee.

However, Mr Vital added that soldiers who supported Mr Rajoelina had been sent to dismantle road blocks around the base where Col Andrianasoavina had made his declaration. Mr Vital also said witnesses in the area claimed civilians were destroying materials at polling stations.

"The people should remain calm and help preserve the peace," Col Andrianasoavina insisted.

In making the announcement, he was joined by a general who had served as Mr Rajoelina's military chief and by the former head of security, also a soldier, Marc Ravalomanana, the president who was ousted in 2009.

Despite the officers' declaration, voting continued on the island of 20 million.

It appeared few were aware of the coup in a country where the military has repeatedly intervened in politics.