UNION OF THE COMOROS

Official name: Union des Comores (Union of the Comoros) Location: Southern Africa International organisations: The African, Caribbean and Pacific Group of States, The African Union, The Non-Aligned Movement, Organisation Internationale de la Francophonie, The Organisation of Islamic Conference, The United Nations. Borders: None Coastline: Indian Ocean Land area: 2,170 Km2 Population: 651,000 Ethnicity: The people of the Comoros are mostly of mixed African and Arab descent. Languages: Arabic and French are the official languages, but most of the population speaks Comorean, also known as Comoros Swahili, Shikomoro or Shingazidja. Religion: Almost the entire population are Sunni Moslems.

Form of government: Presidential democratic republic. The three islands that make up the Comoros, Grande Comore (Njazidja), Anjouan (Nzwani), and Moheli (Mwali), have their own legislatures and considerable autonomy.
Capital: Moroni
Constitution: The Constitution of the Union of the Comoros came into effect on 23 December 2001.
Head of state: The President, elected by direct universal suffrage for a four-year term.
Head of government: The President, who appoints the ministers.
Legislature: The Comoros has a unicameral legislature, the Assembly of the Union, which has 30 members, half elected for five-year terms. Half are elected from single-member constituencies and half are chosen by legislative assemblies of the three islands.
Electoral authority: The National Election Commission administers national elections.
Freedom House 2005 rating: Political Rights 4, Civil Liberties 4

Political history

The Comoros were brought under French control in 1886 and were formally annexed in 1912. The were administered from Madagascar until 1946, when they became a French overseas territory. In 1973 an agreement was reached with France for independence, but the island of Mayotte objected to rule by the larger islands. After a prolonged dispute, the country became independent minus Mayotte, which remains a French territory subject a territorial claim by the Comoros.

Since independence the Comoros have been racked by instability, seeing frequent coups and attempted coups, some carried out by mercenaries backed by South African and French economic interests. President Ali Soilih was assassinated in 1978, and Ahmed Abdallah established a military regime. Abdallah was killed in another coup in 1989, after which Said Mohamed Djohar became President. Another coup attempt in 1995, led by mercenaries,provoked French intervention. A new constitution was drawn up, but in 1999 yet another coup brought Azali Assoumani to power.

Since 2002 the Comoros have once again had constitutional government, under a decentralised system which gives greater powers to the three island assemblies. Azali Assoumani won reasonably fair presidential elections in April 2002. Legislative elections in 2004 saw his supporters defeated in a free election.