Focus on political tensions ahead of parliamentary elections

Grand Comore President Abdou Soule Elbak on Tuesday called on the international community to intervene in the ongoing political stalemate between the leaders of the three autonomous islands and the president of the Comoro Union. "Since he took power [Union President Azali] Assoumani has disrespected the constitution and undermined the autonomy of the islands. Under the power-sharing agreement, it was made clear who would be in control of certain administrative functions, but Assoumani has chosen to ignore these agreed upon principles. He [Assoumani] has become an obstacle to national reconciliation," Elbak told IRIN. Since the devolution process last year, which granted the islands of Moheli, Anjouan and Grande Comore their own local presidents, tensions have heightened over how the separation of powers between the local presidents and the Union president would work. Overall Assoumani's union government controls defence, finance and the archipelago's security apparatus. The current political stand-off began in June 2002 after Elbak and Assoumani could not agree on how they would share rule of Grande Comore, the largest of the three islands. At the heart of the problem is the struggle for control of the island's revenues and the country's security forces. The latest setback came in early February following the arrest of two ministers in the government of Grande Comore linked to a failed coup attempt to overthrow Assoumani. The accused were believed to be closely linked to Elbak. Twelve soldiers were also arrested for their involvement in the plot. "There has never been an attempt to overthrow Assoumani and my connection to any coup is unfounded. What must be noted, however, is that dialogue between the three presidents and Assoumani has completely broken down. We are still committed to legislative elections but not without clarity over who controls the finance of the islands. We also want to be assured that the local governments are in complete control of the gendarmerie," Elbak said. Earlier this month Elbak and the President of Anjouan, Mohamed Bacar, signed a resolution which called for the European Union to "temporarily delay" their payments to the Union government for fishing rights. They also asked ComoreTel, the largest telecommunication company on the island, to suspend revenue payment to the Union. But while parliamentary elections in April were expected to resolve the confusion over administrative control between the two governments, analysts told IRIN that worsening relations between Elbak and Assoumani could jeopardise the stability of the fledgling democracy. "It seems as if we have reached a dead end. Both Assoumani and Elbak have given no sign that they are willing to reach some sort of compromise on the issue. This has unsettled many Comorians who felt that the latest power-sharing arrangement would put an end to instability in the country. A few months ago it was likely that the elections would clarify this confusion but now it is unclear whether the elections will achieve anything," former politician Abdorahim Said Bacar said. Bacar added that the ongoing conflict between the governments had caused confusion among businesses in the capital Moroni, who are unsure to which of the two administrations they should pay their taxes. "There have been several cases where businessmen have received two separate invoices from the two government ministries of finance, both of which have claimed themselves as the authority in charge of collecting taxes. This has caused a lot of confusion which means that traders are forced into a position to have to choose who they should obey," Bacar said. The International Monetary Fund has also said it would be impossible to draw up an economic programme for the archipelago in the short term, until the current political situation was clarified.