VZCZCXRO7581
OO RUEHBZ RUEHDU RUEHGI RUEHJO RUEHMA RUEHMR RUEHPA RUEHRN RUEHTRO
DE RUEHAN #0277/01 1001410
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
O 091410Z APR 08
FM AMEMBASSY ANTANANARIVO
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC IMMEDIATE 1179
RHEHAAA/WHITE HOUSE WASHDC IMMEDIATE
INFO RHEHNSC/NSC WASHDC
RUEHFR/AMEMBASSY PARIS 0999
RUEHLO/AMEMBASSY LONDON 0064
RUEHRO/AMEMBASSY ROME 0077
RUEHGV/USMISSION GENEVA 0077
RUEHZO/AFRICAN UNION COLLECTIVE

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 ANTANANARIVO 000277 
 
SIPDIS 
 
SENSITIVE 
SIPDIS 
 
STATE FOR AF/E, AF/FO AND S 
AID/W FOR DCHA/OFDA - KLUU, ACONVERY, SROGERS, TDENYSENKO 
FOR DCHA/FFP/DP - PNOVICK, SANTHONY, JTAYLOR 
AFR/EA - OCOLE 
PRETORIA USAID/OFDA - HHALE 
NAIROBI FOR USAID/EA/FFP - DGORDON 
ROME FOR FODAG 
GENEVA FOR RMA, DHA, IFRC 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: PREL EAID SOCI OPDC CN
SUBJECT: LETTER TO POTUS FROM COMORAN PRESIDENT - APRIL 7 
 
REF: ANTANANARIVO 251 
 
¶1. (U) Paragraph Two contains an informal Embassy translation of a 
letter in French from Ahmed Abdallah Mohamed Sambi, President of the 
Union of the Comoros, for President George Bush.  It was delivered 
via faxed copy of a Diplomatic Note dated April 7, 2008.  A scanned 
copy of the French original is also being sent to the desk. 
 
¶2. (SBU) BEGIN TEXT: 
 
Dear Mr. President, 
 
I am particularly happy to inform Your Excellency that I finally 
arrived in Anjouan on Saturday, April 5, 2008, after eleven months 
of a shameful prohibition on me, my family and my close colleagues 
by the ousted rebel regime. 
 
Excellency, I cannot express the joy that I felt when I saw all 
these men and women from the entire archipelago, who came together 
and celebrated in joy and brotherhood the end of the separatism and 
the restored unity. 
 
It is obvious that this joy felt by the entire Comoran population 
today would not have been possible without the valuable support of 
Your Excellency and the constant support of your friendly country. 
 
Therefore, I would like to reiterate my warmest gratitude as well as 
my deep acknowledgement for the resolve with which you have 
accompanied my country in the fight against the plague of separatism 
that spread over Anjouan for years, a resolve that has sparked in 
the heart of the Comoran people in general and the population of 
Anjouan in particular, on March 25, the immense hope for a better 
future. 
 
However, please allow me, Excellency, to point out that this hope 
brought about by the liberation of Anjouan cannot perpetuate without 
an examination and a rapid solution to the various issues facing 
this island, which is deeply ravaged by eleven years of separatism 
and rebellion. 
 
In fact, the population of this island that remains the poorest of 
the archipelago, statistically speaking, despite its numerous 
assets, lives in precarious conditions of particular concern. 
 
Therefore, my Government has to reassure this population by 
improving basic infrastructure, namely the health and education 
sectors, as well as the fight against idleness that affects a 
sizeable portion of the population, most of whom are young people 
who have been left to themselves for years. 
 
It is in this context that we plan to launch, in collaboration with 
the interim authorities in the islands, a large-scale project 
related to the social and economic restoration of the island in view 
of consolidating the restored peace and stability and creating the 
conditions favorable to the organization of free and transparent 
elections in this island over the next few weeks. 
 
Therefore, I wish to make a solemn call to the entire international 
community, including particularly to your country, so that you would 
join, with the same willingness and resolve, the reconstruction work 
that has to be undertaken in Anjouan, so as to assist the island's 
population to find a way out of misery and poverty. 
 
I am convinced that this difficult fight that we plan to carry out, 
along with the inevitable examination by the Union, in consultation 
with all the national role players concerned, of those reforms 
necessary for the adequate functioning of my country's institutions, 
shall enhance the social cohesion as well as the recovery of the 
unity of the Union of the Comoros. 
 
Yours respectfully, 
 
Ahmed Abdallah Mohamed Sambi 
 
END TEXT. 
 
 
ANTANANARI 00000277  002 OF 002 
 
 
MARQUARDT