• The MPOI, having learned of the events that occurred in Madagascar in September 2025, has kept on monitoring the situation with its Malagasy comrades. Following an online meeting held on Friday, 17 October, it was decided that this Joint Statement would be issued.
• The Movement of the Peoples of the Indian Ocean (MPOI) acknowledges the courage of the people of Madagascar, in particular that of the youth, who have mobilized massively to claim their fundamental rights to decent living conditions that respect their human dignity.
• MPOI calls on regional and international institutions to respect the will of the Malagasy people to build a new Madagascar, free from injustice, corruption, impunity of the ruling class, state capture by a predatory and neocolonial system, repression of critical voices, as well as violations of fundamental freedoms and national sovereignty.
• The MPOI expresses its solidarity with the popular movement, and recognizes the patriotism and combativeness of the Malagasy people who have been able to mobilize today against the effects of neocolonialism, just as when they rose up against French colonization in 1947.
• The MPOI recognizes the legitimacy of the opposition of the Malagasy people by the means it deems appropriate, to the violations of their fundamental rights, in particular the right to electricity and water.
• The MPOI recalls that Madagascar is among the ten poorest countries in the world, with 79.5% of its population living below the poverty line, while the country is one of the ten richest nations in critical minerals, largely exploited by transnational corporations in a context where corruption has reached an alarming level.
• The MPOI welcomes the military’s decision to side with the people in order to protect them and defend their right to speak out against the violations against them. MPOI calls on the military and the transitional government to ensure that all decisions are made in the best interests of Madagascar, and by prioritizing the realization of the human rights of all its people without discrimination.
• MPOI also endorses the decision of the Southern African Development Community (SADC), dated 16 October 2025, to deploy an emergency mission to Madagascar to establish the facts and produce a report to determine the way forward.
• MPOI invites the SADC delegated mission to conduct in-depth consultations with the youth of Generation Z Madagascar as well as with Malagasy civil society organizations, and to take into account all the factors that have led to the anger and uprising of the Malagasy people.
• MPOI denounces the African Union’s decision to unilaterally suspend Madagascar’s membership. The MPOI believes that such a decision, taken without consultation with the Malagasy people and without taking into account their legitimate right to mobilize to assert their rights, constitutes a serious attack on their popular sovereignty.
• The MPOI considers that there was no coup d’état by the army, and that the establishment of the Government for the Refoundation of Madagascar was carried out in accordance with the constitutional order. The MPOI thus calls on the African Union to put an end to this suspension, so as not to harm the Malagasy people.
• Finally, MPOI calls on the Indian Ocean Commission to support the Malagasy people in their quest for justice and sovereignty, and to put in place the necessary conditions so that the transitional government can freely respond to the aspirations of the Malagasy people to live with dignity and in full respect of their fundamental rights.

October 20, 2025