Organisation of African Unity (OAU) Secretary-General Salim Ahmed Salim was chairing talks in Pretoria on Thursday which seek to find a solution to the secessionist crisis in the Indian Ocean Comoro Islands. A South African government spokesman told IRIN in Johannesburg that Salim arrived in Pretoria earlier in the day for the talks which were being held under the auspices of the OAU. The spokesman said the talks, which were being facilitated by South Africa, would also explore the possibility of holding an inter-island conference to address the “terrible” socio-economic conditions of the two islands of Anjouan and Moheli which split from the archipelago in 1997. Last month, the OAU sent a delegation of military chiefs to mediate and help end secessionist fighting which erupted in the islands.
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