Members of Anjouan’s separatist “parliament” called on Monday for the island’s leader to resign, AFP reported. The self-styled MPs demanded that Said Abeid Abderemane and his militias relinquish power, saying his mandate had run out at the end of 2000. “The mandate of Lieutenent-Colonel Said Abeid Abderemane comes to an end on January 1, 2001,” said a resolution signed by Saindou Chei, the former head of Anjouan’s “national assembly”. In October, Abeid dissolved the parliament and in November set up a “legislative council” whose members he chose. The dissolved group said Abeid would be an “imposter usurping power” if he insisted on maintaining his grip with the help of his militias. The group called on Anjouan’s military and civil society to reject Said Abeid’s regime. In August 1997, the Comoros was plunged into a political crisis when Anjouan broke away demanding independence from its sister islands of the Grande Comore.
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