ANTANANARIVO, Madagascar (AP) — An army colonel who seized power in a military coup was sworn in as Madagascar’s new leader Friday in a lightning-fast power grab that ousted the president and sent him fleeing from the country into hiding.

Col. Michael Randrianirina, the commander of an elite army unit, took the oath of office to become the new president at a ceremony in the main chamber of the nation’s High Constitutional Court and in front of its nine red-robed judges.

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