France, Oct. 17 -- Madagascar's new head of state is a soldier, not a seasoned politician. Propelled into power by a military mutiny that joined forces with a youth-led protest movement, Colonel Michael Randrianirina is now custodian of a fragile peace in one of the world's poorest countries.

"I am an officer, an implementer, and I was just part of the handover, that's all," Randrianirina told RFI last week. "The fact that I speak in public does not mean that I am the leader."

Since then,he has been sworn in as Madagascar's president and embraced his position at the head of a "national refoundation".

The chief of an elite military unit known as Capsat,Randrianirina helped clinch the downfall of his predecessorAndry Rajoelina when he or...