FRIDAY, 4.00PM:
AFTER three days of talks on the future of their Indian Ocean federation, Comoran separatists and government delegates have yet to agree on anything, apart from a broad offer of autonomy by the government to each of the islands of Grande Comore, Anjouan and Moheli.
The Addis Ababa talks, sponsored by the Organsiation of African Unity, are an attempt to resolve the crisis brought about by an attempt at secession by islanders on Anjouan and Moheli in August.
Delegates said on Friday that the talks, which began in the Ethiopian capital on Wednesday, are progressing slowly. Secessionists and government leaders spent Friday meeting separately with OAU mediators. Ali Moumine, the “foreign minister” of secessionist Anjouan, warned in his opening declaration that reducing the problems to a question of territorial integrity would be “simplistic” and lay the foundation for “certain civil war.” He called for separate referendums on each of the three islands to determine the inhabitants’ views on independence. He claimed that a referendum on Anjouan in October produced a 99,47% vote in favour of independence from the Grande Comore government.