COMOROS: Military plans transitional government

The situation in Comoros was reported calm on Monday following last week's coup. Diplomatic sources told IRIN the islands' new military leader is planning to meet civilian politicians to discuss the formation of a transitional government pending elections next year. Colonel Azali Assoumani, who seized power in a bloodless coup on Thursday night, said he would hand over to an elected government after 12 months, and would abide by an OAU-mediated agreement signed in April at an inter-island conference in Madagascar. It was called to settle the long-standing secessionist tensions that have beset the three-island archipelago. The military is encouraging politicians to prepare for elections in 10 months under the terms of the Madagascar accord. "The situation is very quiet and people are adopting a wait-and-see attitude," a diplomatic source on the main island of Grand Comore said. The Madagascar agreement gives greater autonomy to the two smaller islands of Anjouan and Moheli and introduces a three-year rotating presidency between the three islands. However, it led to violence on Grand Comore in which people of Anjouan decent were targeted after the Anjouan delegation to the 19-23 April conference failed to sign the accord on the grounds they needed to consult their people. President Tadjidine Massode stepped down in the wake of the controversy surrounding the accord. The disturbances last week, in which hundreds of Anjouanese fled Grand Camore, reportedly precipitated last week's coup, with the army claiming they intervened to restore order. Anjouan declared its independence from Grand Camore in 1997, sparking the constitutional crisis which led to the Madagascar conference. "I guess the politicians of all groups failed to properly explain the terms of the agreement," the diplomatic source said. He added that the politicians "have indicated they don't want confrontation with the army." Both UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan and the OAU have condemned the coup.