The Madagascar government on Friday ordered civilians to evacuate areas in and around a military camp in the Antananarivo suburbs where a group of mutinous troops are holed up.
“We ask families living in the Ivato camp and residents of the surrounding area to temporarily leave the area for a safer place,” the Defence Ministry said in a statement broadcast on national radio and television.
Around 20 officers who declared a coup Wednesday but failed to win support from the rest of the military are believed to be inside the camp around 15 kilometres (nine miles) from the city centre near the international airport.
A curious crowd was seen near the army barracks where the troops were holed up just before the defence ministry issued the statement Friday.