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afrol.com, 22 September - Comoran Minister of Foreign affairs yesterday informed that a "schedule had been set, laying out the stages of the process leading to a referendum which would ultimately reflect the future of Comoros." Three years after the declaration of independence by the island of Anjouan, the Comoran government now sees hope for a national reconciliation. Only the Organisation of African Unity (OAU) is hindering the process. The separatist crisis in the Comoran island of Anjouan threatened peace in the region, and had done so for three years, Mohamed el Amine Souef, Minister for Foreign Affairs and Cooperation of Comoros, yesterday said in the UN. In August 1997, two of the three main Comoran islands, Anjouan and Moheli, sought to sever links with the main island Grande Comore, citing economic mismanagement and political neglect. The island declared its independence from the Comoro Republic and hoped to reattach itself to France, like neighbouring Mayotte island. With a population of more than 230.000 people it is the most densely populated island in the Comoro archipelago. The Anjouan separatist movement, led by self-styled president Lieutenant-Colonel Said Abeid, has been undermined by the Organisation of African Unity (OAU), in line with that organisation's conservative policy of the sacredness of the borders drawn by colonial powers. Anjouan's insistence on secession thus led to an OAU-sanctioned embargo in February 2000, and in July the OAU summit called on a contact group of eastern and southern African countries to prepare contingency plans for military intervention.
Now, however, the OAU itself has become the most serious threat to reconciliation on the Comoros. On 7 September, it rejected the reconciliation pact, calling it a "setback". The head of the military government in the Comoros islands, Colonel Azali Assoumani, had given more concessions to Anjouanese separatists than the OAU-mediated Antananarivo Peace Agreement, which Anjouan failed to sign after a referendum rejected it in January. The Antananarivo Agreement provided for greater autonomy to the two smaller islands of Anjouan and Moheli, and the introduction of a three-year rotating presidency between the three islands within a federal structure. - The intransigence of the Anjouans had forced the OAU to take firm measures, intended to be implemented gradually, Amine Souef yesterday stated. "Economic sanctions against Anjouan had failed to restore reason, and the people of Anjouan were suffering tremendously. Aware that the sanctions primarily affected the civilian population, the President of Comoros had decided to initiate direct negotiations aimed at achieving national reconciliation. Last August, the joint Declaration of Fomboni was signed between the two parties, aiming to preserve the unity and territorial integrity of Comoros." - The Fomboni Declaration specified that the new Comoran grouping was the sole entity recognized under international law, and that the international community recognized the frontiers of Comoros. A schedule had been set, laying out the stages of the process leading to a referendum which would ultimately reflect the future of Comoros. Today there was hope in Comoros, hope that the problem would be solved in a peaceful and democratic manner." Amine Souef trusted that "reason would prevail among the Anjouan separatists, and that they would realize that maintaining the territorial integrity of Comoros, the four islands in the archipelago, would be beneficial for all." Reconciliation was a long process, and required resources. He therefore appealed to the international community to support the reconstruction and national reconciliation plan formulated by his Government and the World Bank. However, the OAU has denounced the latest accord. An OAU communiqué was quoted in IRIN as saying that the agreement would "contribute to the aggravation of tension and instability in the archipelago". Anjouan is facing shortages of fuel and electricity, which has hit health services, despite a supposed "humanitarian corridor". Telephone lines and travel links have also been cut, and the banks which are run from Moroni, the Comoran capital, have closed. "It really shows that the islands are complimentary to each other, and cannot live independently," a "humanitarian worker" told IRIN, disregarding that the international boycott had put Anjouan in the same situation as Iraq and Serbia. The aggressive OAU policy is based on the fear of the majority of African nations that separatists movements could query to the questionable borders drawn by European colonialists. The OAU has a long history of defending even the most oppressive regimes if the question of "territorial integrity" is raised. Examples reach from OAU support to the Nigerian government against Biafra, to the Zaire of Mobutu against Katanga, to the Congo of Kabila against Tutsi rebels, to dictator Obiang of Equatorial Guinea against Bioko separatists. Neither the peoples of Southern Sudan, fighting for autonomy from the fundamentalist Khartoum government starving and bombing civilians, has gained OAU support. The only acceptance of separatists by the OAU has been of Eritrea and Western Sahara, however only based on the legitimacy found in colonial borders. The only sacred cause of the OAU seems to be the colonial borders. When OAU is tougher on Anjouan than the Comoran government, it is more a reflection of collective interior policy by African leaders, fearing that concessions to Anjouan could inspire separatism in their own countries.
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The Comoran
military junta has been willing to negotiate with Anjouanese officials, and in August finally reached a reconciliation pact. On 26 August, the government signed a joint declaration with the Anjouanese separatists. The declaration calls for a transitional period during which agreement is to be reached on new institutions and a new constitutions. A timetable for a referendum in the Comoros has been set. However, this declaration is yet to receive support of the civilian opposition parties and some of Comoros’ key external partners and neighbors.
