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TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC IMMEDIATE 4740
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C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 ANTANANARIVO 000438 
 
SIPDIS 
 
SIPDIS 
 
ADDIS FOR USAU AMBASSADOR COURVILLE 
DEPT FOR AF/E, AF/FO 
DEPT FOR DS/IP/AF/E - CKOLLMAR 
NAIROBI USAID/LPC - AKARAS 
PARIS FOR D'ELIA 
PRETORIA FOR POLCOUNS 
 
E.O. 12958: DECL: 05/04/2017 
TAGS: PGOV PREL KDEM PBTS MASS ASEC CN
SUBJECT: COMOROS ISLAND IN DE FACTO SECESSION 
 
REF: A. ANTANANARIVO 432 
 
     ¶B. ANTANANARIVO 425 
     ¶C. ANTANANARIVO 399 
 
Classified By: AMBASSADOR JAMES D. MCGEE FOR REASONS 1.4 B AND D. 
 
¶1. (SBU) SUMMARY:  After seizing control of the Union radio 
station and Union President Ahmed Abdallah Sambi's home on 
Anjouan May 3, "President" Mohamed Bacar's forces seem to be 
even more in control of the island.  The first reported 
deaths of Union soldiers have sparked conflict between 
villages; some residents of Anjouan are calling this "the 
beginning of the civil war."  President Sambi has said 
elections can not be held in Anjouan under the present 
situation.  Post has been unable to confirm whether 
representatives of the international community were able to 
travel to Anjouan today to start any sort of mediation but 
suspects Bacar is not yet ready to accept any kind of 
negotiations.  Embassy Antananarivo received a diplomatic 
note from the Union Government May 4 requesting military 
assistance.  END SUMMARY. 
 
FIRST REPORTED DEATHS LEADSTO CONFLICT BETWEEN VILLAGES 
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - 
 
¶2. (U) Radio stations in Moroni are reporting Bacar's forces 
attacked and took control of the Union radio station and 
President Sambi's home on Anjouan May 3.  Seeking shelter in 
an alternate home since May 2, Sambi's wife and children were 
not in the President's home at the time of the attack and are 
thought to be safe. 
 
¶3. (SBU) Post has received conflicting reports about the 
first reported deaths in Anjouan.  On the evening of May 3, 
two Union army boats arrived from Moroni.  It is unclear 
whether they were carrying Union troops from Moroni as 
reinforcements, or whether they had arrived empty to pick up 
Union soldiers on the run at a pre-planned "rally point." 
Regardless, one of Bacar's militia fired a rocket-propelled 
grenade (RPG) and killed two Union soldiers.  Regional 
Commander of the Union Forces Combo and approximately 14 
Union soldiers were reportedly captured and taken to prison. 
Some contacts claim that villagers from the town of one of 
the dead soldiers, who was originally from Anjouan, attacked 
the village of the militiaman who fired the RPG and destroyed 
his home. The irate villagers expressed the desire to attack 
Bacar's forces and his village.  Post has also heard reports 
that other villages hostile to the Bacar government have 
burned the home of one of Bacar's supporters, are putting up 
barricades to keep Bacar's forces out, and may be planning to 
revolt.  Residents of Anjouan are calling this fighting 
between villages "the beginning of the civil war." 
 
PUBLIC RESPONSES FROM THE UNION GOVERNMENT 
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - 
 
¶4. (U) Union Minister of Exterior Relations Jaffar said on 
the radio May 4 that President Sambi explained the Comoros 
cannot hold elections in Anjouan under the present situation. 
 Explaining that Sambi has abided by the Union's Constitution 
by appointing an interim president on Anjouan, he reassured 
the public the international community is objecting to 
Bacar's actions and will seek a solution working closely with 
the Union Government. 
 
CONSPIRACY THEORIES ABOUND 
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - 
 
¶5. (C) Post has been unable to confirm whether 
representatives of the international community were able to 
travel to Anjouan today to start any sort of mediation, but 
Post suspects Bacar is not yet ready to accept any kind of 
negotiations.  Contacts in Moroni report the population 
suspects the French are behind this latest conflict -- a 
common but not entirely believable theme running through many 
of our regular discussions with Comoran contacts.  The 
rumor goes that the French, angry that a U.S. oil company has 
signed a deal for exploratory rights around the Comoros and 
(wrongly) assuming this was the objective of the April 19 
U.S.-Comoros bilateral talks (Ref C), are assisting Bacar to 
 
ANTANANARI 00000438  002 OF 002 
 
 
give a leg up to their own oil companies. 
 
COMORAN GOVERNMENT FORMALLY SEEKS MILITARY ASSISTANCE 
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - 
 
¶6.  (SBU) Early in the afternoon of May 4, the Comoran 
Foreign Ministry sent a diplomatic note to the U.S. Embassy 
in Antananarivo.  The note begins by describing recent 
events, including the attack by Bacar's militia on the 
Union Presidential Palace in Hombo on May 2, the killing of 
the two Union soldiers by an RPG as they attempted to flee by 
boat, and the capture and imprisonment of the remaining 14 
soldiers of the Union army.  It states that all Union 
authorities and Union President Sambi's own family are in 
grave danger on Anjouan, and it raises the possibility of the 
entire country slipping into civil war.  For this reason, the 
Union Government seeks human and logistical resources from 
the U.S. Government to assist in preventing 
civil war, such as:  a rapid response force, military 
transportation by sea or air, a naval vessel for surveillance 
off the Anjouan coast, or helicopters.  The note closes by 
thanking the U.S. Government for giving serious consideration 
to this request. 
 
¶7. (C) COMMENT:  The Union Government at the moment lacks the 
wherewithal to stop Bacar from retaining power on Anjouan in 
what has become a de facto secession from the Union.  We 
suspect Union President Sambi is seeking assistance - 
military and diplomatic - from a variety of sources as well 
as from us.  If he receives it, he will certainly be 
obligated to whatever country provides it.  He probably 
realizes the U.S. is unlikely to provide military assistance, 
despite his request.  Nonetheless, a U.S. public statement, 
condemning the violence and supporting a return to 
established legal and democratic norms, would no doubt be 
greatly appreciated.  END COMMENT. 
 
McGEE