SOUTHERN African foreign ministers are meeting in Pretoria to discuss a constitutional crisis in the Comoros. Also attending the meeting will be ministers from the Organisation of African Unity (OAU) troika – Algeria, Togo and Zambia – and OAU Secretary General Salim Ahmed Salim. The three-island republic between Madagascar and east Africa was plunged into crisis when Anjouan island unilaterally declared its independence in August 1997. Army chief of staff Colonel Azali Assoumani then seized power in Moroni, the capital on Grande Comore island, in a bloodless putsch in April 1999 – the latest of nearly a score of successful or foiled coups since independence from France in 1975. He is still unrecognised by the outside world. AFP