Rajoelina appoints himself as head of transitional govt

Opposition leader Andry Rajoelina appointed himself head of the transitional government of Madagascar after the army handed over power to him, following President Marc Ravalomanana's decision to step down.Madagascar's Andry Rajoelina declared Tuesday "call me president" after he was handed power by the army, completing the fiery 34-year-old's ouster of Marc Ravalomanana after a deadly months-long crisis."Ravalomanana has already resigned, the prime minister and his government have also resigned, I am at the head of the transitional government... So you can call me president," he told French television channel LCI in a telephone interview. His government would organise a fresh presidential election within two years, he said, adding that he believed he had the backing of the people."It is the people who are giving power, it's the people who are retaking power. We are responding to this demand to put myself at the head of the transitional (government)," he said. The baby-faced former disc jockey said he did not know of Ravalomanana's whereabouts and denied he had instigated calls for him to be arrested. "It is not me who is demanding his arrest, it is Madagascan law. It is the law which must settle the fate of Marc Ravalomana," he added. One of his first tasks at the helm of the transitional authority he set up last month will be to fill the constitutional gap of his take-over, not least of which the article which makes him six years too young to run for president.