Comoros: History

Over the centuries, the islands were chanced upon or invaded by a succession of diverse groups from the coast of Africa, the Persian Gulf, Indonesia, and Madagascar. Portuguese explorers visited the archipelago in 1505. "Shirazi" Arab migrants introduced Islam at about the same time. Between 1841 and 1912, France established colonial rule over Grande Comore, Anjouan, Mayotte, and Moheli and placed the islands under the administration of the governor general of Madagascar. Later, French settlers, French-owned companies, and wealthy Arab merchants established a plantation-based economy that used about one-third of the land for export crops. After World War II, the islands became a French overseas territory and were represented in France's National Assembly. Internal political autonomy was granted in 1961. Agreement was reached with France in 1973 for Comoros to become independent in 1978. On July 6, 1975, however, the Comoran parliament passed a resolution declaring unilateral independence. The deputies of Mayotte abstained, preferring to maintain strong ties to France. As a result, the Comoran Government has control only over Grande Comore, Anjouan, and Moheli. Mayotte remains under French administration.

Until recently, Comoran politics were plagued by political instability and civil strife, with numerous coups and secession attempts since independence from France in 1975. The most recent secession attempt was on the island of Anjouan in 1997-1999, wherein rival factions on the island of Anjouan both wanted to secede but could not agree on whether to declare independence or to join France. This disagreement erupted into violence, which eventually spread to the other islands as well. It was partially in response to this that then-Colonel Assoumani Azali took over the national government in 1999 in a bloodless coup d’etat. In May 1999, Azali decreed a constitution that gave him both executive and legislative powers. When Azali took power, he had pledged to step down in 2000 and relinquish control to a democratically elected president. Instead, in 2001, Azali resigned from the military and ran as a civilian candidate for the national presidency. He was elected in 2002 in flawed but fair elections.

In June 2007, individual island elections on Grande Comore and Moheli were held on schedule, but on Anjouan, island governor Mohamed Bacar refused to step down, held a sham election, and declared himself Island Governor for another term. In March 2008, Comoran and African Union (AU) forces restored constitutional rule on Anjouan. A new election for island governor was held peacefully in June 2008.

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