Madagascar president to address the nation Monday evening

Madagascar's President Andry Rajoelina will address the nation on Monday evening, the presidency announced, as protesters and a mutineering army unit ramp up calls for his resignation.

Rajoelina said at the weekend an "attempt to seize power illegally" was under way in the Indian Ocean island nation after a military unit Saturday sided with a more than two-week-old protest movement.

He will speak to the nation at 7:00 pm (1600 GMT), the presidency said in a statement on Facebook.

The CAPSAT unit, which played a major role in the 2009 coup that first brought Rajoelina to power, on Saturday declared it would "refuse orders to shoot" on demonstrators.

Soldiers then entered the city centre to meet several thousand protesters, joining them again on Sunday for a rally to remember the people killed in more than two weeks of anti-government demonstrations that erupted on September 25.

Amid rumours that Rajoelina had fled, his government said Saturday he remained in Madagascar and was managing national affairs.

Hundreds of students on Monday returned to the streets in a celebratory mood, marching through the capital waving the national flag and accompanied by a brass band, AFP journalists said.

Some soldiers joined the crowd, with students hanging from military vehicles and brandishing flags.

The group leading the protest movement, which has called itself Gen Z, has called a new gathering later Monday.

The protests initially focused on chronic power and water cuts in the impoverished country but developed into a broader anti-government movement that called for 51-year-old Rajoelina to resign.

The United Nations has said that at least 22 people were killed in the first days, some by security forces and others in violence sparked by criminal gangs and looters in the wake of the demonstrations.

Rajoelina has disputed the toll, saying last week there were "12 confirmed deaths and all of these individuals were looters and vandals".