THREE-DAY RIOT ON COMOROS

["Curtis Price" <cansv@xxxxxxxxxxx>]

Aut-op-sy readers might be interested to know the Comoros was the
site of the only recent revolution NOT to result in the strengthening
of the State. In the early 80's, Ali Soilel - a'radical' secular
nationalist - seized power and turned the government over to
illiterate teenagers wielding machetes. The reason why? Because the
Comoros were dominated by a heirarchy of middle-aged Islamist
merchants and Soliel felt they couldn't be trusted.The teenagers
burnt down and ransacked most
government buildings until a
band of French mercenaries reconquered the island.Tto this day there are no records available
for nearly  two decades of Comoron government transactions

There's a hilarious anecdote about a German diplomat visitng the
island to conclude an agricultural deal who was thrown in the back of
a jeep driven by the ruling teenagers at 90 miles an hour to visit
the Minster of Agriculture - a 16 year old with an AK47. Needless to
say, the deal wasn't concluded!

Curtis

------ Forwarded Message Follows -------
Date:          Fri, 14 Mar 1997 22:51:30 -0500
From:          NewsHound@xxxxxxxxxxxxx (NewsHound)

Subject:       [65] GOVERNMENT TRIES TO QUELL THREE-DAY RIOT ON COMOROS ISLAND

Selected by your NewsHound profile entitled "RIOTS". The selectivity score was
65 out of 100.

Government tries to quell three-day riot on Comoros island
By KAMAL'EDDINE SAINDOU

MORONI, Comoros Islands (AP) -- The Comoros government sent troops Saturday to
an outlying island where three days of clashes between rioters and police have
left one dead and several injured, officials and witnesses said.

The governor of Anjouan, one of three islands that form this Indian Ocean
nation, on Friday declared a curfew and issued a ban on all public meetings
through Monday, Comoros national radio reported.

Earlier Friday, police opened fire on the rioters in Mutsamudu, the island's
biggest city, killing one person and wounding several others, said witnesses
contacted by phone from the Comoros capital, Moroni.

The government announced it was sending in reinforcements who would arrive in
Anjouan on Saturday.

A French Foreign Ministry spokesman in Paris, speaking on customary anonymity,
said French citizens in Anjouan had been advised to stay indoors.

Mutsamudu remained in darkness Friday night with no fuel to run the generators.

All roads to the city had been blocked since Wednesday, when students took to
the streets to demand the reopening of schools that have been closed since the
beginning of the year because of a strike by teachers and other public workers.

The students, joined by much of the population of Mutsamudu and surrounding
villages, blocked traffic and paralyzed all administrative and commercial
activity, witnesses and government sources in Moroni said.

Demonstrators put up barricades on the main road leading to the center of town
using large shipping containers taken from the city's port. They also set fire
to tires along the road to Mutsamudu's small airport.

Prime Minister Ahmed Abdou, in a radio address Thursday, blamed what he called
deliberate ``destabilization'' on ``elements opposed to the regime.''

Protesters later burned down a house that Abdou owns on Anjouan, witnesses said.

Protests have broken out on all three islands in the Comoros since the beginning
 the year, when the government of President Mohamed Taki Abdoul Karim reneged on
 promises to pay public workers eight months of back pay.

Fifteen demonstrators were injured when soldiers opened fire on crowds during a
strike Jan. 28 in Moroni, on Grand Comoro island.

Most protests since then have lasted only one day.

The Federal Islamic Republic of the Comoros won independence from France in
1976, but has become economically destitute following a series of coups and coup
 attempts.

The Comoros' 570,000 citizens, mostly of Arabic and African descent, are spread
across three islands grouped between the northern tip of Madagascar and the
coast of Mozambique.

A fourth island chose to remain a French territory.

AP-WS-03-14-97 2140EST


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