In Madagascar, spontaneous demonstrations have been breaking out for several days in the capital against power cuts. At Ankatso, the country’s largest public university, students burned tires and erected stone barriers on Friday, September 27, 2024. Just after that, they issued an ultimatum to higher education officials: reduce, by this Monday the extent of the power cuts.
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With our correspondent in Antananarivo, Pauline Le Troquier
At the foot of this new building, the facades painted in bright pinks and oranges contrast with the dilapidation of the surrounding student accommodation. Inaugurated in November, the building is called “manarapenitra”, “up to standards” in Malagasy. A concept dear to President Andry Rajoelina.
However, the electricity there is unstable and largely insufficient to support the students. “ You see, over there, there are the burn marks from the short circuits “. A situation which forces tenants to defy the prohibitions, as Ignark, president of the students of the building, confides from his 9 m² room. “ We use gas bottles or charcoal stoves to cook our meals, even though this is strictly prohibited in the protocol. But the little electricity we have here is used for lighting in the corridors. And when everyone uses it, it breaks! »
“ When the electricity goes out sometimes, I don’t eat anything »
A few blocks away, in another student accommodation, Tahina scrubs her laundry. This medical student uses an electric stove as her main cooking method. So, the six hours a day of load shedding became untenable. “ When the electricity goes out sometimes, I don’t eat anything, I’m deprived of food, I just go to class. Because of this there is a risk of hypoglycemia, which leads to a decrease in blood concentration. [pendant les cours]. »
The campus ground is still marked by burnt tire marks from recent demonstrations which seem, in the students’ opinion, the only way to make leaders hear their suffering.
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