THURSDAY, 4.00PM
FIGHTING on the breakaway Comoran island of Anjouan left two government soldiers with bullet wounds, an army source said on Thursday after the government claimed to have put down the separatist insurrection there without bloodshed.
Independent reports on the extent of fighting were difficult to obtain as telephone and transport links were cut on Monday between the outside world and Anjouan, the second largest in this Indian Ocean archipelago near Madagascar. The defence ministry of the former colonial power, France, however confirmed reports of fighting and said it was continuing on Thursday.
Earlier Thursday a military source said Comoran troops had asked for emergency supplies of drugs and bandages following the intervention on Wednesday. The source said two soldiers received bullet wounds in clashes in the eastern town of Domoni, where he said “very heavy fighting” occurred.
One of the boats requisitioned by the army to ferry troops to Anjouan has returned to Moroni carrying several soldiers and civilian crew members, who were taken to hospital in a state of exhaustion, a reliable source said.
The Comoran government denied there was any fighting or casualties. An aide of Comoran President Mohamed Taki Abdoulkarim said in Nairobi: “There were no deaths, no war, no violence. The soldiers are in the process of restoring order.” On Wednesday the Moroni government said that Anjouan had been “pacified” without bloodshed.
THURSDAY, 3.30PM
COMORAN government troops who landed on the separatist island of Anjouan on Wednesday were on Thursday fighting separatist forces around Mutusmadu, capital of the breakaway island, the French defence ministry confirmed at a weekly press briefing.
A Comoran non-governmental organisation earlier on Thursday reported that two people were killed in heavy fighting overnight, after 300 government troops landed on the island.
The government in Moroni, capital of the Comoro Islands republic, said on Wednesday it had put down the separatist movement on Anjouan without bloodshed.
The invasion of Anjouan flew in the face of attempts by the Organisation of African Unity to broker a peaceful solution to the crisis.