ANTANANARIVO: 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.

His ascent to the presidency came just three days after he announced that the armed forces were taking power in the sprawling Indian Ocean island of around 30 million people off Africa's east coast.

The United Nations has condemned the military takeover as an unconstitutional change of government.