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Army Seizes Public Buildings in Comoro Capital
MORONI,
June 14 (IslamOnline & News Agencies) – The army occupied
Friday, June 14, the main public buildings in Moroni, capital of the Comoros
Islands, including the finance and education ministries.
Soldiers
were also posted at the customs headquarters and at Moroni’s port,
nine days after President Azali Assoumani formed a new government for
the Union of the Comoros
as part of a devolution process aimed at ending years of acute
instability in the Indian Ocean archipelago, Agence France-Presse
(AFP) reported.
Security
was stepped up around the national radio building. And government
workers were asked to leave their offices, but the AFP correspondent
said officials gave no reason for the sudden military deployment.
Apart
from the port area, where dockers gathered to protest about the
military incursion, Moroni was calm and people were going about their
normal business.
Diplomats
suggested Azali himself might be behind Friday’s deployments and
pointed to the fact that one of his political foes, Abdou Soule Elbak,
won the separate presidency of Grande Comore island, a new post, on
May 19.
Since
he was sworn in 10 days later Elbak has complained that Azali’s
Union government had worked to erode his authority and to restrict his
presidential prerogatives.
Under
the devolution process, the three Comoro
Islands, Grande Comore, Anjouan and Moheli, were meant to gain
significant autonomy over their own affairs, leaving the union
government with control only over such matters as defense, foreign
relations and currency.
During
his swearing-in ceremony, Elbak said his victory reflected “a will
for change, a break with decadent political mores.”
He
promised changes in Grande Comore’s administration, which he said
was riddled with “corruption, nepotism and cronyism.”
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| President
Azali Assoumani |
Elbak
beat the island’s former governor and Azali’s chosen candidate,
Bakari Abdallah Boina, with 60 percent of a second round ballot, after
accusing his rival of cheating his way into the runoff.
Azali
first came to power in the Comoros
through a coup in April 1999. He was elected on April 14, two years
after the country was thrown into turmoil by Anjouan's unilateral
declaration of independence.
Since
gaining independence from France in 1975, there have been a score of
coup attempts in the Comoros,
four of which were successful.
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