Comoros

African Union soldiers were on their way to Comoros on Friday to help keep the peace during next month’s elections on the Indian Ocean islands where one local president has refused to stand down. National government spokesperson Abdourahim Said Bacar said 40 AU troops were due to arrive later on Friday.

Seismic activity in the only active volcano on the Comoros islands ceased on Thursday after a spectacular but contained eruption created eerie red clouds over the Indian Ocean archipelago this week. ”The seismic signal is null,” said vulcanologist Julie Morin, one of a team of experts from the nearby French island of Réunion.

Ash blanketed the Comoros capital on Friday after the Indian Ocean archipelago’s Mount Karthala erupted for the second time this year, spewing smoke and cinders over the nation’s main island of Grand Comore. Meanwhile, Volcano Galeras, located near Colombia’s southern Colombia border with Ecuador, began erupting on Thursday.

Residents on the main island in the Indian Ocean’s Comoros archipelago cleaned up on Tuesday after the weekend eruption of the Mount Karthala volcano blanketed much of Grand Comore with ash and dust. The volcano sent thousands of panicked villagers fleeing their homes when the eruption began on Sunday.