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AU troops cheered in Moheli Island streets
2008-03-25 09:25:22
By Guardian Reporter
As military build-up for an incursion on Anjouan continues, hundreds of people of the Comoros’ Moheli Island lined streets to cheer African Union troops that were at key positions on Sunday and yesterday ready for an assault.
The Guardian`s crew now in Moheli of reporter Juma Thomas and photojournalist Khalfan Said have come across crowds of jubilant people from all walks of life on streets, which many see as a warm welcome for the soldiers.
``This is a fitting approach by the AU in dealing with greedy, power-hungry people like Col Mohamed Bacar who are ready to shed blood to remain in power. Africa should teach these people a lesson,`` said Ahamd Shafir, who said he comes from Anjouan.
A Moheli resident quickly chipped in:``We love the Tanzanian soldiers because they look so active and are so cheerful.``
Some 1,350 AU troops from Tanzania and Sudan have arrived in the Comoros ready for an assault on tiny Anjouan`s rebel local leader, Col Mohamed Bacar.
The union government of the coup-prone Comoros is backed by the continental body. It has for weeks been threatening to land on Anjouan and topple Col Bacar, who clung to power in an illegal election last year.
National President Ahmed Sambi has plenty of support at home and in the AU for an operation against the hilly, tropical island held by Bacar and his militia.
``The 750 Tanzanians and the 600 Sudanese have all arrived,`` Lt Col Normal Mze, a military assistant, told Reuters late on Sunday. A Senegalese contingent was also due.
Despite general backing around the region, continental heavyweight South Africa has expressed reservations about an assault on Anjouan, with President Thabo Mbeki saying dialogue would be preferable.
The party of Comoros` former national president Col Azali Assoumani has also questioned the wisdom of an attack.
``The use of any force… would attract the attention of the population of both Comoros and the international community to the groundless character of a fratricidal war whose motives are not convincing,`` it said in a written statement.
The central government accuses Bacar of secessionist aspirations, but the former French-trained gendarme says he wants more autonomy for Anjouan rather than independence.
Analysts say the AU may be hoping to score a relatively easy victory against Anjouan to earn some much-needed international prestige to offset the failures of its struggling peacekeeping missions in Sudan and Somalia.
After suffering some 20 coups or coup attempts since independence from France in 1975, Comoros is trying to shrug off a history of instability and inter-island bickering.
The islands lie off Africa’s east coast and grow vanilla, cloves and ylang-ylang, a flower whose oils are used in aromatherapy.
They were first settled by Arab seafarers 1,000 years ago.
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