Comoros

V

Government

According to a 2001 constitution, the three islands of Comoros constitute a union. Each island elects its own legislature and president, which are responsible for establishing and enforcing its own fundamental laws in accordance with the national constitution. On the national level, legislative power is vested in the Assembly of the Union, whose 30 members serve five-year terms. Half of the members are selected by the individual islands’ legislatures (each island selects five members), and the other half are popularly elected. The head of state is a president, who is popularly elected to a four-year term. The presidency rotates among the three islands. Two vice presidents, representing the other two islands, assist the president. Judicial power resides with the Supreme Court, which rules on fiscal and administrative issues, and the High Council, which considers constitutional matters.

VI

History

The history of the Comoros archipelago has largely been determined by the geographical location of the islands. Traders and seafarers from Africa and Madagascar were attracted to the islands because they provided fertile soil, timber for building boats, and important stops on long-distance trade routes. By the 15th century, trading towns had been built, and they played a significant part in regional trade, selling food or Malagasy slaves to pirates or to visiting European company ships. In the late 18th century the islands suffered severely from slave raids. Sakalava and Betsimisaraka chiefs from northern Madagascar conducted the raids to capture and enslave Comorians. During this period all the towns were fortified with citadels and town walls, many of which form a picturesque background to the modern urban scene. By the 1840s Malagasy chiefs controlled Mayotte and Mwali, and in 1843 one of these, Andriansouli, ceded Mayotte to the French. French influence gradually dominated all the islands, and they became a French protectorate in 1886.

The promoters of French plantation companies obtained forced labor from the peasantry of the Comoros, who had to lease their land from the companies. In 1912 the islands were formally made a colony and placed under the government of the French colony of Madagascar, after they had experienced nearly 30 years of exploitation by French land company promoters. Toward the beginning of World War II (1939-1945), the colonial administration in Madagascar sided with the French Vichy government, which collaborated with the occupying German Nazis. Afraid that the islands might fall to the Japanese and be used as bases for submarine attacks, British forces invaded the Comoros and Madagascar in 1942 and restored them to the Free French government of Charles de Gaulle. In 1946 the Comoros were given their own conseil général (general council), and they were separated from the government of Madagascar in 1960. In that same year Madagascar became an independent republic, but the Comoros stayed under French rule.

A referendum on independence was held in the Comoros in 1974, when Mayotte voted by a small majority to remain with France. France put up no opposition when the other three islands declared their independence in 1975. Since 1975, however, France has continued to play a dominant role in the life of the islands and has made use of mercenaries four times to bring about changes in regime. Comoros remains closely tied to France and its interests in the Indian Ocean.

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After independence, Comoros became politically unstable. A revolution shortly after independence installed a radical nationalist regime under Ali Soilih, which was overthrown by a coup led by mercenaries in 1978. The country was then ruled by President Ahmed Abdulla, who was backed by French mercenaries and by South Africa until he was assassinated in 1989. Said Mohamed Djohar then took office and held onto power precariously until he was deposed in September 1995 by yet another coup, led by French mercenary Bob Denard. French troops intervened and arrested Denard in October.

In March 1996 Mohamed Taki Abdulkarim was elected president, in the first democratic elections held since Comoros gained independence from France. Taki drafted a new constitution that extended the authority of the president and established Islam as the basis for all legislation. Discontent with Taki soon spread across the country, and in mid-1997 the islands of Nzwani and Mwali separately declared their independence from the Comoros. In September dozens of Comorian troops were killed in a failed military operation to put down the secession on Nzwani. In late 1998 Taki died of a heart attack and was succeeded by an interim president. In April 1999 representatives from the three islands attended talks, mediated by the African Union (OAU), that were aimed at restoring unity. An agreement was reached that would restore a looser federation, with increased autonomy for the two smaller islands. Only the Nzwani delegation refused to sign the accord, saying it had to consult its people. Within days, riots broke out on Njazidja aimed at people from Nzwani. On April 30 the army staged a bloodless military coup, claiming it was necessary to restore order. The interim government was dissolved, and army chief of staff Colonel Azali Assoumani assumed control. Pledging to abide by the OAU agreement and return the Comoros to civilian rule, he formed a transitional government. A new constitution, giving each island a significant degree of autonomy over its own finances and laws, was approved by a national referendum in December 2001. The constitution specified that the presidency would rotate among the three islands. In April 2002 Azali, of Njazidja, was elected the first president under this system.

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