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Comoros The Break with France
Politics in the 1960s were dominated by a social and
economic
elite--largely descendants of the precolonial sultanate
ruling
families--which was conservative and pro-French. During
Comoros'
period of self-government as an overseas department, there
were
two main conservative political groupings: the Parti Vert
(Green
Party), which later became known as the Comoros Democratic
Union
(Union Démocratique des Comores--UDC), and the Parti Blanc
(White
Party), later reconstituted as the Democratic Assembly of
the
Comoran People (Rassemblement Démocratique du Peuple
Comorien--
RDPC). Dr. Said Mohamed Cheikh, president of the Parti
Vert and
of the Governing Council, was, until his death in 1970,
the most
important political leader in the islands. The Parti
Blanc, under
Prince Said Ibrahim, provided the opposition, endorsing a
progressive program that included land reform and a
loosening of
the monopoly on Comoran cash crops enjoyed by the
foreign-owned
plantation sociétés. The second most powerful
member of
the Parti Vert, Ahmed Abdallah, a wealthy plantation owner
and
representative to the French National Assembly, succeeded
Cheikh
as president of the Governing Council soon after Cheikh
died.
Well into the 1960s, the two established parties were
concerned primarily with maintaining a harmonious
relationship
with France while obtaining assistance in economic
planning and
infrastructure development. Given this consensus,
politically
active Comorans often based their allegiance on personal
feelings
toward the doctor and the prince who led the two main
parties and
on whatever patronage either party could provide.
The independence movement started not in the Comoro
Islands
but among Comoran expatriates in Tanzania, who founded the
National Liberation Movement of Comoros (Mouvement de la
Libération Nationale des Comores--Molinaco) in 1962.
Molinaco
actively promoted the cause of Comoran independence
abroad,
particularly in the forum of the Organization of African
Unity
(OAU), but not until 1967 did it begin to extend its
influence to
the islands themselves, engaging in largely clandestine
activities. The Socialist Party of Comoros (Parti
Socialiste des
Comores--Pasoco), established in 1968, was largely
supported by
students and other young people.
A growing number of politically conscious Comorans,
resenting
what they perceived as French neglect of the Comoro
Islands,
supported independence. Independence-minded Comorans,
especially
younger ones, were energized by dramatic events across the
Mozambique Channel on the African mainland. Tanganyika had
gained
its independence from Britain in 1961 and soon adopted a
government based on "African socialism." Zanzibar, another
longtime British colony, became independent in 1963 and
overthrew the
ruling Arab elite in a violent revolution the following
year; the
island state then merged with Tanganyika to form the new
nation
of Tanzania. Meanwhile, nationalists were beginning
uprisings in
the Portuguese colony of Mozambique.
Abdallah, although a conservative politician, saw
independence as a "regrettable necessity," given the
unsatisfactory level of French support and the growing
alienation
of an increasingly radicalized younger generation. The
violent
suppression of a student demonstration in 1968 and the
death of
Said Mohammed Cheikh in 1970 provided further evidence of
the
erosion of the existing order. In 1972 leaders of the
Parti Vert
(now the UDC) and the Parti Blanc (now the RDPC) agreed to
press
for independence, hoping at the same time to maintain
cordial
relations with France. A coalition of conservative and
moderate
parties, the Party for the Evolution of Comoros (Parti
pour
l'Évolution des Comores), was in the forefront of the
independence effort. The coalition excluded Pasoco, which
it
perceived as violently revolutionary, but it cooperated
for a
time with Molinaco. During 1973 and 1974, the local
government
negotiated with France, and issued a "Common Declaration"
on June
15, 1973, defining the means by which the islands would
gain
independence. Part of the backdrop of the negotiations was
a
proindependence riot in November 1973 in Moroni in which
the
buildings of the Chamber of Deputies were burned. A
referendum
was held on December 22, 1974. Voters supported
independence by a
95 percent majority, but 65 percent of those casting
ballots on
Mahoré chose to remain as a French department
(see
The Issue of Mahoré, this ch.).
Twenty-eight days after the declaration of
independence, on
August 3, 1975, a coalition of six political parties known
as the
United National Front overthrew the Abdallah government,
with the
aid of foreign mercenaries. Some observers claimed that
French
commercial interests, and possibly even the French
government,
had helped provide the funds and the matériel to bring off
the
coup. The reasons for the coup remain obscure, although
the
belief that France might return Mahoré if Abdallah were
out of
power appears to have been a contributing factor. Abdallah
fled
to Nzwani, his political power base, where he remained in
control
with an armed contingent of forty-five men until forces
from
Moroni recaptured the island and arrested him in late
September
1975. After the coup, a three-man directorate took
control. One
of the three, Ali Soilih, was appointed minister of
defense and
justice and subsequently was made head of state by the
Chamber of
Deputies on January 3, 1976. Four days earlier, on
December 31,
1975, France had formally recognized the independence of
Comoros
(minus Mahoré), but active relations, including all aid
programs,
which amounted to more than 40 percent of the national
budget,
remained suspended.
Data as of August 1994
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