VZCZCXRO4393
RR RUEHBZ RUEHDU RUEHHM RUEHJO RUEHLN RUEHMA RUEHMR RUEHPB RUEHPOD
RUEHRN
DE RUEHAN #0702/01 1980629
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
R 170629Z JUL 07
FM AMEMBASSY ANTANANARIVO
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC 0070
INFO RUCNSAD/SOUTHERN AF DEVELOPMENT COMMUNITY COLLECTIVE
RUEHZN/ENVIRONMENT SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY COLLECTIVE
RUCNDT/USMISSION USUN NEW YORK 0068

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 ANTANANARIVO 000702 
 
SIPDIS 
 
SIPDIS 
 
DEPT FOR AF/E AND OES 
USAID FOR GH/HIDN - CHTHOMAS 
FOR EGAT/NRM - CJELRON, CGILL, MCOLBY 
FOR AFR/SD - JBORNS 
FOR AFR/EA - OSMOAK, KO'DONNELL 
NAIROBI FOR USAID/EA/LPC - AKARAS, MBARRY, MKIRBY 
PRETORIA FOR USAID/HEALTH - KCRUNKLETON 
ADDIS ABABA FOR REO LISA BRODEY 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: EAID SENV TBIO EAGR ECON PGOV CN
SUBJECT:  MOHELI, THE FORGOTTEN COMORAN ISLAND 
 
REF:  ANTANANARIVO 0685 
 
¶1.  SUMMARY.  There are four inhabited islands in the Comoran 
archipelago.  France administers Mayotte.  Of the other three, 
comprising the Union of the Comoros, two are of comparable size and 
population - Grande Comore being slightly larger than Anjouan.  The 
third is Moheli, an environmental jewel with a population of barely 
36,000.  Its size lends itself to serving as a "laboratory" for 
development and may lead to its selection as a Millennium Village. 
What is more, under the "rotating presidency" provision of the Union 
constitution, four years hence the next President will hail from 
Moheli.  This cable provides some general impressions of the island. 
 END SUMMARY. 
 
¶2.  In conjunction with the Comoros July 6 National Day, and to 
congratulate the recently elected island presidents of Grande Comore 
and Moheli (Reftel), Charge visited Moheli (called Mwali in Comoran) 
from July 7-9. 
 
¶3.  Moheli might be described as "bite-sized."  As such it has 
attracted considerable interest in recent months from some 
significant players seeking to use it as a "laboratory" for 
development.  According to Opia Kumah, the United Nations 
Development Program (UNDP) Resident Coordinator in the Comoros, he 
has interested Jeffrey Sachs in making Moheli - the entire island - 
one of Sachs' model Millennium Villages.  These are designed to test 
Sachs' hypothesis that a substantial infusion of development 
assistance can jump-start societies caught in the poverty trap and 
start them down the road to prosperity.  In addition, the Chinese 
Government is reportedly willing to fund an effort to eradicate 
malaria on Moheli.  Here the theory is that malaria needs human 
hosts to propagate.  If everyone on the island were to be 
simultaneously given treatment and prophylaxis, the chain of 
transmission could be broken and Moheli could become malaria free. 
The Comoros Government is awaiting World Health Organization (WHO) 
certification that the medication the Chinese are proposing to use 
is WHO-approved.  Following that, a major education effort will be 
needed to get buy-in from the residents of the island.  However, it 
remains an intriguing concept that may prove successful - at least 
until the first cousins/aunts/uncles return to visit carrying the 
malaria parasite in their blood. 
 
¶4.  Politics in Moheli is largely dysfunctional.  The Charge's 
driver joked about a pothole on the main road being ex-island 
President Fazul's "four million Euro" pothole.  He meant Fazul had 
claimed infrastructure improvements but that the results were 
lacking while the funds went missing.  For example, the road 
circling the island has a ten-kilometer gap that is impassable by 
car, defeating the purpose of a "circle."  Newly-elected president 
Mohamed Ali Said told Charge that he hopes to improve the lives of 
the people of Moheli but he worried that he would not have the 
resources necessary to make a difference.  This concern appeared 
justified, when a walking tour of the offices and residence of the 
president showed that Fazul and his staff had removed everything 
overnight on moving out after losing the election - furniture, 
appliances, even down to fixtures and light bulbs. 
 
¶5.  Ali Said forwarded a note describing some of the problems he 
faces on Moheli (and, of course, seeking U.S. assistance in 
addressing them).  Over eighty percent of the population falls below 
the poverty line.  Fifty percent of students do not complete primary 
school and less than five per cent complete secondary school.  In 
addition, costs are much higher on Moheli as many basic needs must 
be imported from Grande Comore and Anjouan.  The shipment costs 
raise the price, and supply disruption is common. 
 
¶6.  The economy is largely agricultural.  Subsistence farmers and 
fishermen form the bulk of the economically active population. 
Although money poverty is widespread, hunger is virtually unknown 
thanks to the bountiful banana plantations, a staple of Mohelian 
diet.  Agricultural exports are diverse but small in quantity: 
cloves, vanilla, and ylang-ylang (flowers whose extract is used in 
perfume production) all are grown.  Copra had been a substantial 
export but is declining as a virus decimates production in the 
island's palm groves. 
 
¶7.  For all of these problems, the ecotourism potential of Moheli is 
enormous.  On the north shore, dozens of 200-pound green turtles 
come ashore every night to lay their eggs.  In the past, villagers 
would eat the turtles and their eggs, and poachers reportedly 
visited from Anjouan to partake of the hunt.  This is becoming 
increasingly rare as local and international NGOs have raised 
 
ANTANANARI 00000702  002 OF 002 
 
 
conservation awareness among the villagers and as tourist visitors 
with cash to pay guides provide a more lucrative alternative value 
for the turtles.  Moheli's hills are one of two places on earth 
where the critically endangered Livingstone flying fox may be found. 
 This is the largest species of bat in the world having a wingspan 
of nearly five feet.  Finally, almost the entire south shore of 
Moheli, extending to include several offshore uninhabited islets, 
forms the Comoros' only national park - a marine sanctuary.  One 
modest resort on this stretch of coast shares a beach with the local 
village - and it also has two private beaches of its own.  It is a 
jewel and, when the Charge dropped by, it was empty.  Without better 
infrastructure, clearly, Moheli's environmental treasures will 
remain largely unexplored by visitors.  Unless this development is 
done very carefully, perhaps it is better that way. 
 
SIBLEY