Comoros hunts rebel leader, plans new vote

[kiwi]

Comoros hunts rebel leader, plans new vote
Wed 26 Mar 2008, 10:40 GMT


By Ahmed Ali Amir

MORONI (Reuters) - Comorian troops combed the Indian Ocean island of Anjouan in search of its rebel leader on Wednesday, after the first African Union-backed assault to oust a renegade government.

Joint AU-Comorian forces took control of Anjouan on Tuesday, hours after attacking to topple Mohamed Bacar, a French-trained former gendarme who took power in 2001 and clung on after an illegal election last year.

"The National Development Army is still looking for Mohamed Bacar in several places where he might be hiding, not only in the places where he was spotted yesterday," Mohamed Bacar Dossar, a presidential defence official, told Reuters.

A federal government spokesman said late on Tuesday that Bacar was thought to be trying to flee by boat to the nearby French-governed island of Mayotte, disguised as a woman. But, with phone connections cut, there was no independent confirmation of that.

Ambulances sped wounded rebels to hospital and sporadic gunfire was heard on Anjouan, one of three islands in the coup-prone Indian Ocean archipelago. Officials said three rebels were killed and 10 wounded in the clashes.

Comoros planned to install an interim government in Anjouan by the end of the week to prepare for new elections in two or three months, government spokesman Abdourahim Said Bacar said.

He said a contingent of AU troops was expected to remain on the island to ensure the voting went ahead.

Despite the military's claim of victory on Tuesday, some residents feared pockets of resistance.

"Groups loyal to the colonel (Bacar) are hiding in the forest. Until they are captured, we'll be frightened that they may come in the evening to take revenge," said Roukia Halidi, a woman from Anjouan's capital Mutsamudu, on national radio.

The AU has deployed some 1,350 troops to the spice and perfume-producing islands and will see the successful operation as a way of offsetting its troubled peacekeeping missions in Somalia and Sudan.

"DICTATORSHIP"

Critics say the AU picked a soft target. With a history of assassinations, mercenary invasions and some 20 coups or attempted rebellions since independence from France in 1975, Comoros is notorious for its political instability.

France and the United States backed the assault on the tiny island of 300,000 people, but it was criticised by continental power South Africa.

President Thabo Mbeki said on Tuesday the military action took Comoros "back to this history of force instead of resolving matters peacefully".

Comoros was "particularly disappointed" by Mbeki's position, government spokesman Bacar said.

"It goes against the decisions of the African Union, especially the Peace and Security Council, and resolutions from foreign ministers in the region, of which South Africa is a part."

He accused the Anjouan leader of setting up a dictatorship and said Bacar would answer for his crimes in court.

"We have reports and witnesses about people being tortured, people being raped, even killed," he said.

"We had a physical education teacher whose arms and legs have been broken by Bacar's men. They have to answer for that. We have to take him to court."

First settled by Arab seafarers 1,000 years ago, Comoros later became a pirate haven. One of the world's most indebted nations, the whole archipelago is home to 700,000 people.

(Additional reporting by Ed Harris in Port Louis; Writing by Katie Nguyen; Editing by Bryson Hull and Janet Lawrence)