/ 11 May 1999

OAU REJECTS COMOROS GOV’T

THE Organisation of African Unity on Monday urged all countries to refuse all cooperation with the new junta in the Comoros and decided to withdraw the military officers from its observer team in the Indian Ocean island chain. A communique issued after an ambassadorial level meeting of the OAU’s central organ for the prevention, management and resolution of conflicts said continued cooperation with the regime of Colonel Azali Assoumani, who seized power in a bloodless putsch on April 30, would have the effect of perpetuating his rule. The OAU also asked all countries in the region to examine all other measures they could take to counter the unacceptable situation in the islands. Souef El Amine, appointed by Azali as “foreign affairs commissioner,” was expelled from the meeting at the insistence of several countries even though OAU Secretary General Salim Ahmed Salim asked that he be allowed to remain.