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Comoros Foreign Affairs
Comoros' most significant international relationship is
that
with France. The three years of estrangement following the
unilateral declaration of independence and the
nationalistic
Soilih regime were followed during the conservative
Abdallah and
Djohar regimes by a period of growing trade, aid,
cultural, and
defense links between the former colony and France,
punctuated by
frequent visits to Paris by the head of state and
occasional
visits by the French president to Moroni. The leading
military
power in the region, France has detachments on Mahoré and
Reunion, and its Indian Ocean fleet sails the waters
around the
islands. France and Comoros signed a mutual security
treaty in
1978; following the mercenary coup against Abdallah in
1989,
French troops restored order and took responsibility for
reorganizing and training the Comoran army. With Mahoré
continuing to gravitate politically and economically
toward
France, and Comoros increasingly dependent on the French
for help
with its own considerable social, political, and economic
problems, the issue of Mahoré diminished somewhat in
urgency.
The close relationship Comoros developed with South
Africa in
the 1980s was much less significant to both countries in
the
1990s. With the reform of its apartheid government, South
Africa
no longer needed Comoros as evidence of its ostensible
ability to
enjoy good relations with a black African state; the end
of the
Cold War had also diminished Comoros' strategic value to
Pretoria. Although South Africa continued to provide
developmental aid, it closed its consulate in Moroni in
1992.
Since the 1989 coup and subsequent expulsion of South
Africanfinanced mercenaries, Comoros likewise turned away from
South
Africa and toward France for assistance with its security
needs.
The government fostered close relationships with the
more
conservative (and oil-rich) Arab states, such as Saudi
Arabia and
Kuwait. It frequently received aid from those countries
and the
regional financial institutions they influenced, such as
the Arab
Bank for Economic Development in Africa and the Arab Fund
for
Economic and Social Development. In October 1993, Comoros
joined
the League of Arab States, after having been rejected when
it
applied for membership initially in 1977.
Regional relations generally were good. In 1985
Madagascar,
Mauritius, and Seychelles agreed to admit Comoros as the
fourth
member of the Indian Ocean Commission (IOC), an
organization
established in 1982 to encourage regional cooperation. In
1993
Mauritius and Seychelles had two of the five embassies in
Moroni,
and Mauritius and Madagascar were connected to the
republic by
regularly scheduled commercial flights.
Comoros also hosted an embassy of China, which
established
relations during the Soilih regime. The Chinese had long
been a
source of aid and apparently wished to maintain contact
with
Comoros to counterbalance Indian and Soviet (later
Russian)
influence in the Indian Ocean. Comoran relations with
Japan were
also significant because Japan was the second largest
provider of
aid, consisting of funding for fisheries, food, and
highway
development. The United States established diplomatic
relations
in 1977 but in September 1993 closed it embassy in Moroni.
The
two countries enjoy friendly relations.
In November 1975, Comoros became the 143d member of the
UN.
In the 1990s, the republic continued to represent Mahoré
in the
UN. Comoros was also a member of the OAU, the EDF, the
World
Bank, the IMF, the IOC, and the African Development Bank.
Comoros thus cultivated relations with various nations,
both
East and West, seeking to increase trade and obtain
financial
assistance. In 1994, however, it was increasingly facing
the need
to control its expenditures and reorganize its economy so
that it
would be viewed as a sounder recipient of investment.
Comoros
also confronted domestically the problem of the degree of
democracy the government was prepared to grant to its
citizens, a
consideration that related to its standing in the world
community.
* * *
The reader seeking recent works on the history,
politics, and
society of Comoros also needs to consult a number of
publications
that cover the republic as one of many African or Indian
Ocean
countries. These include Africa Analysis, Africa
Contemporary Record, Africa Events, Africa
Research
Bulletin, and Africa South of the Sahara. Other
periodically issued sources include the annual
country-by-country
Amnesty International Report and the newsletters
Africa
Confidential and Indian Ocean Newsletter.
Whereas the
Times of London, New York Times, and
Washington
Post report Comoros' more serious upheavals, more
regular
coverage is provided by Le Monde. Useful social and
economic data can be obtained from World Bank
publications. One
such publication in particular, Social Indicators of
Development, an annual, provides country-by-country
tables of
data on indicators of poverty and resources and
expenditures.
Books such as Thierry Flobert's 1976 work, Les Comores:
Évolution juridique et socio-politique, the World Bank
1979
publication The Comoros: Problems and Prospects of a
Small,
Island Economy, and Malyn Newitt's The Comoro
Islands:
Struggle Against Dependency in the Indian Ocean,
provide
useful background despite their growing datedness. (For
further
information and complete citations,
see
Bibliography.)
Data as of August 1994
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