BRIEF: Free and fair vote in Comoros is a “priority”

ANJOUAN, Comoros – The government of Comoros, following the overthrow of the island’s self proclaimed leader, stated that a free and fair vote in Anjouan “is a priority.” The island nation is one of three, located two-hundred and fifty miles off Africa’s southeast coast, each ruled by a different regional president under the authority of the main leader Ahmed Abdallah Sambi. Comoros has been ruled illegally by Mohamed Bacar since 2001. His rule ended Tuesday, when hundreds of Comoros government troops with the support of African Union troops stormed the capital, at the order of Sambi. Bacar fled the capital, and his whereabouts are currently unknown.

The troops, now occupying the capital, freed all of the prisoners from the main jail, which included a number of men who were imprisoned for their political views. One of the freed prisoners said he was picked up by the police at the place of his employment, and told he was being jailed on the grounds that he was a distant relative of Sambi. When Comoros troops came to the capital, troops backing Bacar came to the jail wanting to kill the supposed political opposition members. Only the penitentiary guards, who refused to open the cells, saved them.

Comoros has a history of instability, enduring nineteen coup or coup attempts since independence from France in 1975.

For more information, please see:

International Herald Tribune – Comoros troops free prisoners in Anjouan capital wrested from rebels – 26 March 2008

Voice of America – Comoros Promises Fair Elections for Former Rebel-Controlled Anjouan -26 March 2008