AFP Clashes erupt between Comoran forces and Anjouan fighters Clashes broke out Saturday between the federal army of the Comoros Islands and followers of Anjouan leader Mohamed Bacar, with two troops wounded, a federal source said.

But…

IOL SA, Mbeki intervenes to halt AU invasion In a dramatic, last-minute intervention, President Thabo Mbeki has halted an African Union invasion this weekend of the tiny Comoros island of Anjoun as troops gathered on a neighbouring island, ready to overthrow Anjouan’s ruler…It is reliably understood that Mbeki spoke to the head of the African Union, Tanzanian President Jakaya Kikwete, by phone on Friday to stall the attack, intended to depose President Mohamed Bacar.

Tanzania, which George W. Bush visited recently, has been the prime mover behind the AU assault on Anjouan, intending to send 750 troops to Comoros to invade Anjouan.

Comoros Islands Government Says Won’t Stop Military Offense Against Rebel Anjouan President (VOA, 18/3)

Ahmed Thabit is a Comorian independent analyst. From the capital, Moroni he tells reporter Peter Clottey that the army’s offense against Bacar would continue until he is removed from office.

“For the last few days incursion have been taking place in Anjouan. There was a military incursion by the Comoros Armed forces on the second city of Anjouan, and I gathered that about three people were injured. Also today, there was another incursion, a big one in Moya, and many people were injured,” Thabit noted.

Thabit accused Bacar of causing problems in the Archipelago…“You know there are four islands including Mayotte, which is now under French administration, but we hope that sooner or later it will join us.”

Comoros says French helicopter crashes on Anjouan A French police helicopter crashed on Comoros’ renegade island of Anjouan during an unauthorised flight on Wednesday, officials in Comoros said, as tensions grew ahead of a military assault. (Reuters, 19/3)

The coup-prone archipelago’s top military officer said it was not clear who was on board the aircraft. A second military source said it was carrying a pilot and two French policemen…”We don’t know what it was doing. You can imagine the rumours,” Lieutenant Colonel Salimou Mohamed Amiri said.

“The government of Comoros did not allow them to come. They were not authorised ... The French said they sent other air and naval assets to pick up the crew.”

Comoros government insists on attack, France talks of possibility of peaceful solution A Comoros official insisted Thursday an AU- and French-backed invasion would go ahead to regain control of one of the Indian Ocean archipelago’s islands, but while France said the attack was on course, it also said it supported finding a peaceful solution. (AP, 20/3)

^{AU troops in Comoros, Getty Images}

“The invasion will be very soon,” Abdul Bacar Soihir, head of the Comoros union Cabinet, told The Associated Press Thursday. “We are just waiting for the arrival of some of the foreign troops.”

But regional power South Africa and others have said diplomacy should not be abandoned. In Paris Thursday, France, which has helped transport other African troops to the islands to prepare for an AU-Comoran attack on Anjouan, also spoke of negotiations.

Soihir, the Cabinet official, appeared frustrated at the lack of action…“Verbally they support us, but the French, the South Africans and the Americans are false friends to the Comoros,” he said by telephone from Moheli, charging that Bacar had been backed by unnamed private individuals on the nearby, French-controlled island of Mayotte...Soihir speculated a helicopter that crashed on Anjouan a day earlier had flown from Mayotte as part of a bid by the private individuals to evacuate Bacar. He did elaborate on how he had come to that conclusion.

African Union troops arrive on Comoros island in invasion build-up A fresh batch of African Union (AU) troops arrived on the Comoros island of Moheli Friday, joining Comoran forces massed for a military offensive to retake the rebel island of Anjouan…A total of 150 Tanzanian soldiers landed early Friday in the port town of Fomboni in Moheli, the smallest of the three islands, an AFP correspondent witnessed…The first AU detachment consisting of 200 Sudanese and 150 Tanzanian troops landed here on Thursday. (AFP, 21/3)

Senegalese troops are also expected while the fourth African country to take part in the AU-sponsored operation is Libya, which has provided transport assistance…More than 1,000 African troops are expected to take part in the operation, supporting some 400 Comoran troops already in Moheli.

Army launches assault in Comoros A military operation is under way in the Comoros archipelago in the Indian Ocean to end a year-old rebellion on the island of Anjouan…Defence chief of staff Mohamed Dosara said about 450 troops had landed at dawn, taking the airport and entering the main town, Mustamudu. (BBC, 25/3)

Comoros claims control of rebel island The Indian Ocean archipelago nation of Comoros said it had seized control of the rebel island of Anjouan on Tuesday after a seaborne assault backed by the African Union (AU). (Reuters, 25/3)

With 1,350 AU troops in support, the national government aimed to quickly topple Anjouan’s local leader, French-trained former gendarme Mohamed Bacar, who clung to power in an illegal election last year and commands a militia of several hundred…There was no news of the whereabouts of local leader Bacar and with phone lines cut, there was no independent confirmation of the progress by the Comoros forces on the ground.

Analysts say the AU is hoping to score a relatively easy victory in Anjouan — whose population is just 300,000 —- to earn some international prestige to offset the struggles of its peacekeeping missions in Sudan and Somalia.

And from AFP:

In an interview with AFP on Thursday, Bacar had taken a defiant stand.

“I am still determined to defend Anjouan despite my concern that people are ready to come here and fire on the Anjouanese. But I am continuing with my preparations to defend Anjouan,” he said.

In addition to the African Union,France, the country’s former colonial power, has also given the operation to oust Bacar its blessing, and helped airlift the AU troops to the area.

From the BBC:

Last Updated: Friday, 28 March 2008, 02:43 GMT

France flies rebel out of Comoros

A French military plane has flown Comoran rebel leader Colonel Mohammed Bacar to the French island of Reunion in the Indian Ocean.

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French officials have said he will be placed under investigation for landing illegally on Mayotte in possession of weapons, reports the AFP news agency.

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Deposed Comoros rebel leader Bacar jailed in French territory Mohamed Bacar, a deposed rebel leader from the Indian Ocean nation of Comoros, and 22 supporters have been jailed on the nearby French island of Reunion at the request of their homeland, a prosecutor said.

Meanwhile, Bacar and his men have applied to France for political asylum. French officials are studying the requests…[After the AU assault] Bacar fled to the French island of Mayotte by speedboat with 22 supporters, and the group was then transferred to Reunion.

They were charged with illegally entering French territory and breaking weapons laws, but the French proceedings were annulled on a technical glitch.

...The Comoros islands, with a population of 700,000, have experienced a series of coups and political upheavals since gaining independence from France in 1975. The late Bob Denard, a French mercenary, controlled the Comoros behind a figurehead leader for most of the 1980s.