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Sub Saharan Africa

Comoros

 Flag of Comoros

Last reviewed: 10 July 2009

Country information

POLITICS

Each of the three islands, Grande Comore, Anjouan and Mohéli, has an individual parliament, with different numbers of seats, whcih are elected directly; the Union has a legislative assembly with 33 members: 15 members of parliament are appointed by the local parliaments (five each) and 18 are elected by direct universal suffrage; elections for the national legislature and for the island and Union presidents are scheduled to be held in 2011.

Ahmed Abdallah Sambi won the May 2006 presidential election with 58% of the vote; this was the first time that the presidency had been revolved betweeen citizens of different islands, as laid out in the 2000 Fomboni Accord; the next presidential election is scheduled to take place in 2010.

Violence broke out in advance of June 2007 elections on Anjouan, where island president Mohamed Bacar refused to stand down. He subsequently claimed 89% of the vote in locally-organised elections on 10 June 2007, the results of which were not recognised by the Union (nor by the AU). Following clashes between local policemen loyal to Bacar and Union soldiers the AU deployed over 100 peace-keepers to the island in June 2007. Bacar evaded capture following the AU intervention and is thought to be currently living in exile in Benin.

On 17 May 2009, President Sambi held a national referendum in a bid to amend the constitution, to try and reduce the number of elections and harmonise the terms of office of the Union and island presidents amongst other things. However, the outcome of the referendum remains in dispute (94% of voters were in favour on a 50% turnout) and political tensions remain. There is a real concern on Mohéli (which is due to take on the Union Presidencey in 2010 under the consitutional rotational agreement between the three islands) that it willbe denied its reightful turn as scheduled next year.

Integrated Regional Information Networks (IRIN) - Africa

BBC News: Africa

BBC News Country Profile: Comoros

HUMAN RIGHTS

According to the latest US State Department Country Report on Human Rights, the Comoros Government generally respected the human rights of its citizens, although there were some areas of concern. Problem included poor prison conditions; restrictions on freedom of movement, press, and religion; official corruption; discrimination against women; child abuse; and child labour.

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Contacts

Mauritius

Address:

British High Commission
Les Cascades Building
Edith Cavell Street
Port Louis
PO Box 1063

Telephone:

(230) 202 9400
(230) 252 8006 Duty Officer (in case of genuine emergency out of office hours)

Fax:

(230) 202 9408
(230) 202 9407 Consular/Visa

Email: bhc@intnet.mu

Office hours:

GMT:
Mon-Thurs: 0345-1145
Fri: 0345-0930

Local Time : GMT + 4 (Mauritius is normally 1 hour ahead of Comoros, but since the introduction of daylight saving time in Mauritius, there is 2 hours of a difference from November to March).

Out of hours, the Mauritius High Commission will give contact number.

Website: http://ukinmauritius.fco.gov.uk/en