VZCZCXRO8632
OO RUEHMR RUEHROV
DE RUEHFR #0986 0461822
ZNY CCCCC ZZH
O 151822Z FEB 06
FM AMEMBASSY PARIS
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC IMMEDIATE 4300
INFO RUEHAN/AMEMBASSY ANTANANARIVO IMMEDIATE 0820
RUEHPL/AMEMBASSY PORT LOUIS IMMEDIATE 0685
RUCNIAD/IGAD COLLECTIVE
RUCNSAD/SOUTHERN AFRICAN DEVELOPMENT COMMUNITY

C O N F I D E N T I A L PARIS 000986 
 
SIPDIS 
 
SIPDIS 
 
E.O. 12958: DECL: 12/21/2015 
TAGS: PREL PHUM PINR PTER CN FR
SUBJECT: COMOROS PRESIDENT UNDERSCORES U.S. FRIENDSHIP 
 
 
Classified By: Ambassador Craig R. Stapleton.  Reasons 1.4b,d 
 
¶1.  (C) Summary:  Comoros President Assoumani Azali 
underscored to the Ambassador his cooperative relationship 
with the USG, including signature of an Article 98 agreement 
and counter-terrorism efforts.  He regretted the absence of 
an accredited American ambassador to the Comoros.  Azali 
related he had met with the French presidency to discuss a 
forthcoming IMF performance evaluation and to highlight 
mitigating economic factors for consideration.  He noted his 
achievements in promoting local education as a means to 
counter the potential exposure of Comoros youth to radical 
Islamic tendencies through schooling overseas.  Azali 
confirmed plans for democratic elections in the Comoros and 
that he would step down from the presidency.  Separately, the 
French MFA confided to the embassy that France is encouraging 
Azali to take a position at the African Union or the 
Organisation Mondiale pour la Francophonie, but that he 
appears bent on remaining in local Comoros politics.  End 
Summary 
 
¶2.  (C) Comoros President Assoumani Azali called on the 
Ambassador on February 1, stressing his record of close 
collaboration with the USG.  He volunteered off the mark that 
he had signed an Article 98 agreement for the Comoros and he 
emphasized counter-terrorism cooperation, including 
continuing efforts to apprehend Harun Fazul for his role in 
the 1998 bombings of U.S. embassies in Africa.  Azali 
regretted the continuing absence of an accredited American 
ambassador to the Comoros, commented he was aware that the 
U.S. would now shift its accreditation from Embassy Port 
Louis to Embassy Antananarivo and noted that the U.S. 
formerly had an official diplomatic presence in Moroni 
proper.  He lauded the contributions of former U.S. 
Ambassador to the Comoros John Price in advancing 
Comoros-U.S. relations, describing the envoy as "like a 
brother." 
 
¶3.  (C) Azali said he would step down from the presidency and 
that elections would go forward in the spring as mandated by 
the Comoros constitution.  He shed no light on his personal 
plans for post-presidential life, stating he must remain 
focused completely on the needs of his administration. 
(Note:  French MFA DAS-Equivalent Remi Marechaux informed 
Africa Watcher that France is encouraging Azali to take a 
position with the African Union or the Organisation Mondiale 
pour la Francophonie, a worldwide structure to promote 
Francophone culture.  Azali however appears bent on the 
governance of the island of Grande Comore, Marechaux said.) 
 
¶4.  (C) Although the Comoros had emerged as a stable if young 
democracy after nearly three decades of continuous 
turbulence, Azali stressed its economic fragility and the 
need to generate opportunities for a youthful population, 
where two thirds of Comoros citizens were under 30 years of 
age.  He said he was the architect of important educational 
reforms, including the establishment of a university, which 
he termed vital to the security of the Comoros.  Homegrown 
schooling was critically important, Azali advised, for 
otherwise Comoros youth would flock to schools in Khartoum 
and in Arab states, where they risked being radicalized by 
extremist ideas. 
 
¶5.  (C) Azali related he had just met with Michel de 
Bonnecorse, the Africa Counselor to President Chirac, in 
order to discuss IMF and World Bank programs in the Comoros. 
The IMF would shortly issue a performance evaluation and 
Azali wanted to highlight mitigating economic factors that he 
hoped might offset an otherwise sub-par assessment.  State 
income fell, Azali claimed, due to market fluctuation in the 
value of vanilla, which he said comprises 40 percent of 
Comoros GDP, because budget projections for the Comoros had 
assumed petrol prices at 30 USD per barrel, and on account of 
a decline in shipping revenues. 
 
Please visit Paris' Classified Website at: 
http://www.state.sgov.gov/p/eur/paris/index.c fm 
 
Stapleton