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History and Government
History: In the early 15th century, the Arabs settled on the islands, each of which was ruled by separate sultanates. The islands were ceded to the French in 1841. They became a French protectorate in 1886 before being formally adopted as colonial possessions in 1912. The Comoros were then governed as part of Madagascar until 1947 when they became a separate French Overseas Territory.
Internal self-government was granted in 1961, although full independence was not achieved until 1975, despite consistent pressure on the French from the islands’ Government. The main reason was the position of Mayotte, one of the original Comoros island group, which insisted upon retaining its links with France. With Mayotte going its own way, the Comoros joined the United Nations as the Federal Islamic Republic of the Comoros. Ahmed Abdallah was elected as the first president. Within months, the instability which has characterised post-independence politics on the islands took effect as Abdallah was overthrown by a coup led by Ali Soilih. In 1978, with the assistance of French mercenaries, Abdallah regained his position with another coup, but his success was short lived as he was assassinated the following year.
Abdallah’s successor, Said Mohamed Djohar, managed to hold onto power in the face of both coup attempts and domestic political crises before the return in 1995 of the Comoros Islands’ nemesis, Bob Denard, the leader of the mercenary group that had installed Abdallah in 1978. Although Denard’s latest effort was suppressed a week later by French troops despatched from Réunion, Djohar was killed. By 1996, the situation had calmed sufficiently for scheduled elections to take place. The new Government of Abdulkarim Taki was determined to introduce Islamic law to the islands. This was fiercely resisted in many quarters, especially on the outlying islands of Anjouan and Moheli, which now sought independence from the Comoros group. The pair seceded in August 1997: attempts to return them to the national fold by force were successfully resisted. The following year President Taki died, and was replaced by Ben Said Massounde. The new government proved unable to settle the ongoing political crisis and in May 1999 was overthrown in a military coup led by the Chief of the Army General Staff, Colonel Azzali Assumani. During the next two years, the military government laid plans for a new constitution that would maintain the group as a single country, but with much greater autonomy afforded to the individual islands. In December 2001, it was approved in a national referendum. In May 2002, after several weeks delay, Assoumani was declared President of the newly-enitled Union of Comoros after a disputed election.
Government: Following the military coup of May 1999, the existing 1996 constitution and the Federal Assembly were suspended. A new constitution allowing for greater autonomy and individual elected administrations on each of the islands was introduced in 2002. Executive power is in the hands of the President, who is elected for a six-year term. There is no legislature at present.
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