MINISTERS from 11 African countries met in Pretoria on Thursday to seek a solution to the separatist crisis in the Comoros. The South African foreign ministry said the meeting, chaired by Organisation of African Unity Secretary General Salim Ahmed Salim, was called at the request of Comoran Prime Minister Abass Djoussouf. It is aimed at “breaking the impasse created when the islands of Anjouan and Moheli declared secession from the Comoro archipelago in 1997”, a ministry statement said. The meeting has drawn delegates from Kenya, Mauritius, Madagascar, Mozambique, Tanzania, the Seychelles, Zimbabwe, Burkina Faso and Algeria but separatist leaders are not attending the discussions.