Madagascar's military gives power to Rajoelina

ANTANANARIVO (Reuters) - Madagascar's military chiefs formally endorsed opposition leader Andry Rajoelina as president of a transitional authority on Tuesday, ending a months-long power struggle on the Indian Ocean island.

"We give full powers to Mr Andry Rajoelina to become president of the high transitional authority," navy Admiral Hyppolite Ramaroson told reporters.

Former President Marc Ravalomanana resigned on Tuesday and asked Ramaroson to form a military government, but the top brass rejected the idea of the security forces running the country.

Despite concerns from abroad that he should have gone to the ballot box, Rajoelina mustered sufficient domestic support to consolidate power on the huge, mineral-rich island off the coast of southeast Africa.

The man whose street protests since the start of 2009 bulldozed the president into stepping down immediately assumed authority, marching into Ravalomanana's city-centre offices.

The opposition said elections would be held within two years. "We can say that we are free. There is a lot of work that awaits us. It is the path Madagascar must take," Rajoelina said.

The army chief of staff had earlier said he favoured Rajoelina, 34, a former disc jockey and sacked mayor of Antananarivo, to run the country.

"If we go with the vice-admiral we will throw ourselves into another crisis," Colonel Andre Ndriarijaona told Reuters.

Some dissenting voices in the military had been quashed, diplomatic sources said.

The African Union, which opposes any unlawful transfer of power on a continent only too familiar with bloody uprisings, demanded the constitution be respected.

Rajoelina, however, is too young to become president. According to the constitution, the head of the upper house of parliament should become interim leader with elections held within 60 days.

(Additional reporting by Alain Iloniaina in Antananarivo, David Brunnstrom in Brussels, Tsegaye Tadesse in Addis Ababa, Frank Nyakairu and Alison Bevege in Nairobi; Writing by Andrew Cawthorne; Editing by Giles Elgood)