Referendum on unity still on track

The failure of a coup attempt over the weekend on the breakaway Comoros island of Anjouan has raised optimism among pro-union parties that a referendum across the archipelago on a new constitution to end the country's secessionist crisis will go ahead in December as scheduled. On Sunday, Anjouan military ruler Major Mohamed Bacar announced that the coup attempt had been defeated and its leader, Lt-Col Said Abeid had fled. One person was reported to have been killed in the putsch and several wounded when Abeid, who was overthrown by Bacar three month ago, attempted to re-take power. According to news reports, Abeid's bid for the presidency was motivated by a desire to end moves towards reconciliation between Anjouan and the other two Indian Ocean islands that make up the Comoros. A referendum on a new unionist constitution is due on 23 December. Speaking over Anjouan radio, Bacar said that since seizing power, he had thwarted three attempts to usurp him. "We have been very indulgent up to now," AFP reported him as saying. "As from today, the strongest measures will be taken to restore respect for law and order." The Comoros government condemned the coup bid. Commenting on the referendum process, opposition leader Houmed Msaidie told IRIN: "I am personally optimistic even if there are still problems." The former minister and one of the drafters of the new constitution said that Abeid, who had landed by boat on Anjouan from the French territory of Mayotte, had "forgotten he was overthrown for his corruption and failings as a leader". Msaidie said that while some parties on the main island of Grand Comore were also opposed to the Fomboni agreement on unity signed in February 2001, including "hardline" Islamists, "I hope there will be a new will, a new mood". But he also questioned the role of France in allowing Abeid to launch his coup bid from Mayotte. Comoros has been plagued by political instability since independence from France. In 1997 Anjouan, one of the poorest of the three islands, unilaterally declared its independence in the hope of rejoining France. A 1999 Organisation of African Unity (OAU) brokered agreement in Antananarivo, Madagascar, aimed at granting increased autonomy in return for re-unifying the country was rejected by Abeid. Sanctions were imposed, and amid threats of OAU military action, the Fomboni accord was signed on the island of Moheli, which in essence is a reworking of the Antananarivo agreement. Currently an OAU fact-finding mission is in Comoros.