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France expects to deport ousted rebel leader Bacar
2008-03-29 09:43:36
By SAINT DENIS DE LA REUNION, France
Comorian rebel leader Mohamed Bacar, wanted by the Comoros government for leading a separatist government on one of the archipelago`s islands, is likely to be deported from the French island of Reunion, French officials said yesterday.
Comoros has demanded that France send Bacar back to face trial there, but Reunion state prosecutor Francois Muguet said he had not been informed of any formal international arrest warrant from the Comoros authorities.
He said Bacar would be tried today for illegally entering French territory and importing weapons, and the trial ``could result in deportation``. The hearing could be delayed by 10-15 days if Bacar appealed for time to prepare his defence.
Muguet also said he would not be able to sign an order while a decision on whether to grant asylum was pending.
Relations between the two countries are fraught, and Comoros has long been suspicious of what it sees as French meddling in its former colony, which became independent in 1975.
Bacar and 22 soldiers from Anjouan fled to the nearby island of Mayotte this week to escape Comorian and African Union troops who toppled his renegade government.
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