Rescuers on Tuesday found a child survivor of a Yemeni airliner that crashed off the coast of Comoros, a hospital official said.
Comoros’ Anjouan island expects to organise democratic elections within three months, its interim leader said on Wednesday, a week after his predecessor was ousted in an African Union-backed offensive. Former president of Anjouan’s appeals court, Lailizamane Abdou Cheik, was sworn in as the tiny, wooded island’s interim leader on Monday to replace Mohamed Bacar.
Comoros demanded on Thursday that France hand over a rebel leader wanted by the Indian Ocean archipelago for crimes against humanity and troops fired teargas to stop protests against the former colonial power. Paris confirmed late on Wednesday that Mohamed Bacar, the self-declared leader of Anjouan island, had fled to nearby French-run Mayotte.
Comorian rebel leader Mohamed Bacar has fled to the French-run Indian Ocean island of Mayotte from nearby Anjouan, where Comorian troops had been searching for him, French and Comorian officials said on Wednesday. Joint African Union and Comorian forces attacked and seized control of Anjouan island on Tuesday to topple Bacar.
Troops from the Indian Ocean archipelago of Comoros seized the rebel island of Anjouan on Tuesday with African Union military help, and the government said its self-declared leader had fled dressed as a woman.
The Indian Ocean archipelago nation of Comoros said it had captured the capital and airport of the rebel island of Anjouan on Tuesday in a African Union-backed seaborne assault. ”Our troops have their feet on the ground … The assault has started well and good,” Mohamed Bacar Dossar, a presidential official in charge of defence, said.
African Union soldiers were on their way to Comoros on Friday to help keep the peace during next month’s elections on the Indian Ocean islands where one local president has refused to stand down. National government spokesperson Abdourahim Said Bacar said 40 AU troops were due to arrive later on Friday.
One soldier died as local forces ousted national troops to take control of the second largest of the Comoros islands, authorities said on Friday. Clashes began on Wednesday when police loyal to the outgoing president of Anjouan island, Mohamed Bacar, attacked national soldiers who had taken over official buildings.
South Africa will send a 100-member military team to train security forces in the Comores ahead of the June presidential elections in the Muslim-majority archipelago, a poll official said on Monday. ”About 100 men working under the aegis of the African Union will arrive in Moroni on April 25 to train and organise the Comores forces,” Mohammed Kassim Zahahe said.
Seismic activity in the only active volcano on the Comoros islands ceased on Thursday after a spectacular but contained eruption created eerie red clouds over the Indian Ocean archipelago this week. ”The seismic signal is null,” said vulcanologist Julie Morin, one of a team of experts from the nearby French island of Réunion.
Islamist candidate Ahmed Abdalla Sambi won a landslide victory in weekend presidential elections in the coup-plagued Comoro islands, according to provisional results announced on Tuesday. The national election board said Sambi took 58,27% of the vote in Sunday’s polls, which it is hoped will bring stability to the volatile Indian Ocean archipelago.
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/ 25 November 2005
Ash blanketed the Comoros capital on Friday after the Indian Ocean archipelago’s Mount Karthala erupted for the second time this year, spewing smoke and cinders over the nation’s main island of Grand Comore. Meanwhile, Volcano Galeras, located near Colombia’s southern Colombia border with Ecuador, began erupting on Thursday.
Residents on the main island in the Indian Ocean’s Comoros archipelago cleaned up on Tuesday after the weekend eruption of the Mount Karthala volcano blanketed much of Grand Comore with ash and dust. The volcano sent thousands of panicked villagers fleeing their homes when the eruption began on Sunday.
The African Union gave its stamp of approval late on Monday to last weekend’s first round of legislative elections in the Indian Ocean’s Comoro islands, but urged polling authorities to shape up their logistics. Sunday’s vote was for the brand new assemblies on the three autonomous Comoro islands: Grande Comore, Anjouan and Moheli.