Anjouan reported to be quiet

The situation on the break-away Comoros island of Anjouan was reported as calm on Friday, a day after rebel soldiers deposed the leader of the military regime, Colonel Said Abeid. Diplomatic sources in the Comoros capital Moroni told IRIN on Friday that the diplomatic community had earlier in the day met at the offices of the Organisation for African Unity (OAU) to exchange information and decide on a “joint move”. “The participants then went to a meeting at the Prime Minister’s office to hear the official views and position of the government in Moroni,” one diplomat said. “The authorities displayed a lot of serenity and informed the diplomatic community that they were in contact with the committee in Anjouan and that Colonel Abeid was safe and involved in finding a solution.” Referring to Abeid’s earlier role in negotiating an end to Anjouan’s succession and rejoining the Comoros federation, the diplomat added that: “The prime minister indicated that reconciliation process will not be affected and could even be helped by what is happening in Anjouan.” Meanwhile, earlier reports from Anjouan indicating that Commandant Halidi, the chief of the Gendarmerie on Anjouan, had led the coup proved to be false. Halidi had in fact been on Moheli reviewing a draft constitution for Anjouan. According to reports he spent the night in Moroni and returned in Anjouan only on Friday after conferring all night with the officers who have formed the coup committee provisionally in charge of Anjouan’s affairs. Instead Commandant Ahmed Bacar, also of the gendarmerie, broadcast over the radio on Thursday on behalf of the committee. But no clear leader of the putschist appears to have emerged. Diplomatic sources said that a meeting was held on Friday morning at the gendarmerie to decide on how to move as apparently all those approached to assume the leadership have declined. “There are even some reports that some of the soldiers might be willing to re-instate Abeid,” one source said. Meanwhile, the OAU on Friday called for talks on the constitutional future of the Comoros federation to continue. An OAU statement said Secretary-General Salim Ahmed Salim had expressed “great concern” about recent events on Anjouan and “wishes to emphasise that the ongoing reconciliation process ... should suffer no setbacks as a result of the unfolding events in Anjouan”. Comoros political leaders have been working on the details of implementing an accord signed in February which outlined a new relationship between the three Comoran islands, delivering them greater autonomy. In 1997, Anjouan unilaterally seceded from the Federal Islamic Republic of Comoros. The island said that it did not receive its fair share of revenue. Neither the federal government nor the OAU recognised Anjouan’s independence, and Abeid seized power in 1999.