Anjouan leader visits capital for peace talks

Anjouan’s strongman, Colonel Said Abeid was in Moroni on Friday for the launch of a Follow-up Committee provided under the Framework Agreement signed by Comorian parties on 17 February to end the separatist crisis in the Indian Ocean archipelago, PANA reported on Friday. It was the first time since the outbreak of the crisis in 1997 that the Anjouanese leader visited the federal capital of the Comoros, Moroni. Abeid later accompanied the Comorian leader Colonel Azali Assoumani to Mitsoudje, the latter’s native town where the two men took part in Friday prayers.

The Anjouan leader was reportedly well received by the population. During a brief address, Abeid deplored the absence at the meeting of the opposition leader, Abbas Djoussouf. The Framework Agreement brokered by the Organisation of African Unity (OAU) and other international organisations provides for the drafting of a new constitution, the formation of a government of national unity and the holding of Presidential and general elections in December 2001.