/ 16 September 2003

Comoros blow-out threat

Few things can upstage a constitutional imbroglio like a volcanic eruption. Le Kartala, which smokes incessantly in the heavily wooded hills above the Comoros capital of Moroni, is doing just that.

United Nations agencies are preparing for the worst eruption since the National Scientific Research and Documentation Centre on Grande Comore reported increased seismic activity in the volcano that last erupted 12 years ago.

The capital houses 70 000 of the archipelago’s 600 000 inhabitants.

“Obviously it is impossible to say exactly how many people will need assistance,” UN resident coordinator Kalula Kalambay said this week. “Our main concern is for the villagers living in the southern and central parts of the island nearer the volcano.

“But if Moroni is hit, then this will affect all the islands because they all rely on services from capital.”

At the northern tip of this island grouping, Grande Comore has the only airstrip long enough to land commercial flights. Flat space is at a premium on these islands blackened by their volcanic history.

The fact that the UN is leading the contingency planning speaks to the constitutional paralysis gripping the islands.

With le Kartala smoking angrily above her, South African Minister of Foreign Affairs Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma worked for two nights in July negotiating a way through the impasse. She left the islands apparently unsuccessful, but her efforts paid off last month when the islanders came to South Africa.

The presidents of Moheli, Anjouan and Grande Comore met with the African Union team headed by Dlamini-Zuma. The team has representatives from Kenya, Madagascar, Mauritius, Mozambique, Seychelles and Tanzania.

“I believe we have cracked it,” a South African official said at the end of three days of talks. “We initialled a document agreeing on the distribution of customs revenue, security arrangements and the budget for 2003 and 2004.

“All sides have agreed enough to allow President Thabo Mbeki to get involved. He is going to sit down with the presidents of the autonomous islands and sign a document together with President Assoumani Azali of the Comoros Union.”

Azali refuses to talk directly to the island presidents. The man who came to power in a coup in 1999 — the islands’ 22nd since independence from France in 1975 — was democratically elected president of the Comoros Union last year.

The three autonomous presidents were also elected then, although the process of restoring the islands to normality was jammed when parliamentary elections were postponed.

The presidents were left bickering over sharing the power and the islands’ meager resources.

Dlamini-Zuma remains adamant that parliamentary elections will solve the power issue. The agreement reached in Pretoria last month appeared to settle other issues that will enable the election to be held.

Comoros charge d’affaires Bacar Salim said they had agreed “to compromise over the allocation of resources and security arrangements”.

The union government will control the army while the islands will administer police. A key compromise, according the Salim, was the decision to set up a customs council to enable the fair distribution of revenue.

Dlamini-Zuma was eager to maintain the momentum and scheduled a visit to the Comoros with Mbeki in early September for a signing ceremony. There was some surprise, therefore when Azali asked for a postponement. The union president is not regarded as a hurdle in these affairs. His request was based on the islands needing more time to prepare for a visit of such importance.

The tourism infrastructure set up when the Comoros was apartheid South Africa’s listening post on Tanzania and Mozambique has been mothballed. It is hoped that a political solution will restore tourism.

For now, le Kartala has more to say about that than even the most powerful politician.