The Federal Islamic Republic of the Comoros

On 26 May 2006 Ahmed Abdallah Sambi, nick-named the "Ayatollah", was sworn in as the President of the Union of Comoros, representing the first-ever peaceful and democratic power exchange in the archipelagos' coup-plagued history.
Constitutional change of government for the first time since the archipelago became independent in 1975.
President Sambi won the 14 May 2006 polls by a landslide victory and got 58 percent of all Comoran votes.
Mr Sambi - who is nick-named "the Ayatollah" - indeed gathered most votes on Grand Comore and Moheli, where he stood as a man who could bring values back to politics and would stand up against rampant corruption. Himself being a cleric and a successful businessman without much political experience secured an untainted image in a country where politicians are not trusted by the public.
The new 48-year-old Comoran President caught his nick-name 'Ayatullah' for having studied in the Islamic seminary in Qum in Iran. The new Comoran President however is a Sunni Muslim cleric and has tried to make it clear that he is nothing but "a good Muslim".
Therefore, he also used a substantial part of his presidential inauguration speech to clarify these rumours. "If being an Islamist means conforming to the moral and intellectual values of our country, then I am an Islamist. If being an Islamist means showing compassion to the less fortunate, then I am an Islamist," Mr Sambi said.
President Sambi has fought against corruption, created employment and development in the country and to gave a lift to values in the Comoran society.

The Island Nation
The Federal Islamic Republic of the Comoros is island nation in the Indian Ocean, located off the eastern coast of Africa on the northern end of the Mozambique Channel between northern Madagascar and northeastern Mozambique. The nearest countries to the Comoros are Mozambique, Tanzania, Madagascar, and the Seychelles.
The Federal Islamic Republic of the Comoros is an archipelago situated in the western Indian Ocean, about midway between the island of Madagascar and the coast of East Africa at the northern end of the Mozambique Channel. The archipelago has served in past centuries as a stepping stone between the African continent and Madagascar, as a southern outpost for Arab traders operating along the East African coast, and as a center of Islamic culture. The name "Comoros" is derived from the Arabic Qamar, meaning "moon," although this name was first applied by Arab geographers to Madagascar. In the nineteenth.
The country consists of the four islands in the volcanic Comoros archipelago: Ngazidja (French: Grande Comore), Mwali (French: Mohأ©li), Nzwani (French: Anjouan). Comoros lays claim to Mayotte (aka. Mahorأ©), a neighboring island in the Comoro archipelago, which however is a French Overseas collectivity.
The Comoros is notable for its diverse culture and history, as a nation formed at the crossroads of many civilizations. It has three official languages—Comorian (Shikomor), Arabic, and French, and it is the only state to be a member of each of the African Union, Francophonie, Organization of the Islamic Conference, Arab League, and Indian Ocean Commission, among other international organizations. However it has had a troubled history since independence in 1975, marked for its inordinate amount of coups. At 2,235 kmآ²,[1] the Comoros is the third smallest African nation by area, and one of the smallest in the world, and with a population estimated at 798,000 it is also the sixth smallest African nation by population (though it consequently has one of the highest population densities in Africa). The Comoros is sometimes considered a microstate. Its name derives from the Arabic word qamar ("moon"), as seen depicted on its flag.

Pre-colonial inhabitation
The Comoro Islands, like other coastal areas in the region, were important stops in early Islamic trade routes frequented by Persians and Arabs. Despite its distance from the coast, Comoros is situated amidst the major sea route between Kilwa and Mozambique, an outlet for Zimbabwean gold.
By the nineteenth century, Shiraz, Iranian influence dominated the islands.Shirazi traders from Iran traded along East Africa, the Middle East, and India, and had established colonies in the Comoros. Arab influence increased with the ascendancy of Zanzibar under Arab Omani rule.

European contact and French colonization
Portuguese explorers visited the archipelago in 1505.
France first established colonial rule in the Comoros beginning in 1841. The first French colonists landed in Mayotte, and Andrian Tsouli, the King of Mayotte, signed the Treaty of April 1841, which ceded the island to French authorities. In 1886, Mohأ©li was turned over to French protection by its Queen Salimba Mochimba. That same year, after consolidating his authority over all of Grand Comore, Sultan Said Ali agreed to French protection of his island, though he retained sovereignty until 1909. Also in 1909, Sultan Said Muhamed of Anjouan abdicated in favor of French rule of the island. The Comoros (or Les Comores) was officially made a French colony in 1912, and the islands were placed under the administration of the French colonial governor general of Madagascar in 1914.
The Comoros continued to be used as a way station for merchants to the Far East and India until the construction of the Suez Canal greatly reduced traffic passing through the Mozambique Channel. The only native commodities exported by the Comoros were coconuts. French settlers, French-owned companies, and wealthy Arab merchants established a plantation-based economy that now uses about one-third of the land for export crops. After its annexation, France converted Mayotte into a sugar plantation colony. The other islands were soon transformed as well, and the major crops ylang-ylang, vanilla, coffee, cocoa, and sisal were introduced.
Agreement was reached with France in 1973 for Comoros to become independent in 1978. On July 6, 1975, however, the Comorian parliament passed a resolution declaring independence. The deputies of Mayotte, which stayed under French control, abstained. Referendums on all four of the islands excluding Mayotte showed strong support for independence. Ahmed Abdallah became the first president and proclaimed the Comoros' independence on September 5, 1975.

Independent Comoros
The next thirty years were a period of political turmoil. It began in 1975 when mercenary Bob Denard with clandestine funding by Jacques Foccart and the French government removed president Ahmed Abdallah from office in an armed coup on August 3, 1975, and replaced him with United National Front of the Comoros (UNF) member Prince Said Mohammed Jaffar. Just a few months later, in January 1976, Jaffar was ousted in favor of his Minister of Defense Ali Soilih. Around that time, in two referendums — December 1974 and February 1976 — the population of Mayotte voted against independence from France (by 63.8% and 99.4% respectively).
The three independent islands, ruled by President Soilih, instituted a number of socialist and isolationist policies that soon strained relations with France. On May 13, 1978, Bob Denard returned and overthrew President Solih by force and re-instated Abdallah with the support of the French and South African governments. In contrast to Soilih, Abdallah's presidency was marked by authoritarian rule and increased adherence to traditional Islam. During Soilih's short rule, there had been seven further documented coup attempts before the successful overthrow by Denard in May 1978. Unlike Abdallah, Soilih was killed after being forced from office.
Abdallah continued as president until 1989 when, fearing a probable coup d'أ©tat, he signed a decree ordering the Presidential Guard, led by Bob Denard, to disarm the armed forces. Shortly after the signing of the decree, Abdallah was allegedly killed by a disgruntled military officer fatally shooting the president in his office, and injuring Denard at the same time, though later sources claim an anti-tank missile launched into his bedroom was the cause of Abdallah's death.
It is suspected that Abdallah's killer was a soldier in Denard's command. A few days later, Bob Denard was evacuated to South Africa by French paratroopers. Said Mohamed Djohar, Soilih's older half-brother, then became president and served until September 1995 when Bob Denard returned and attempted another coup. France intervened with paratroopers and forced Denard to surrender. The French moved Djohar to Reunion and the Paris-backed Mohamed Taki Abdulkarim became president by election. He led the country from 1996, during a time of labor crises, government suppression, and secessionist conflicts, until he died in November 1998 and was succeeded by Interim President Tadjidine Ben Said Massounde.
The islands of Anjouan and Mohأ©li declared their independence from the Comoros in 1997, attempting to rejoin French rule. However, France refused the islands, and there were bloody confrontations between federal troops and rebels during Taki's government. Colonel Azali Assoumani, Army Chief of Staff, seized power in a bloodless coup in April 1999, overthrowing the Interim President Tadjiddine Ben Said Massounde citing weak leadership in the face of crisis.
The BBC reported that Azali's takeover was the Comoros' eighteenth coup d'etat since independence in 1975. A subsequent failed attempt by Azali to consolidate power and reestablish control over these islands was the subject of international criticism, and the African Union, under the auspices of President Mbeki of South Africa, intervened, imposing sanctions on Anjouan to help broker negotiations and effect a reconciliation. This involved a system of governmental autonomy for each island, plus a Union government for the three islands. Azali stepped down in 2002 to run in the democratic election of the President of the Comoro Union, which he won.
Under ongoing international pressure, as a military ruler who had originally come to power by force and was not always democratic while in office, Azali led the Union through constitutional changes that enabled new elections. A "Loi des compأ©tences" (a law that defines the responsibilities of each governmental body) was passed in early 2005 and is in the process of implementation. The elections in 2006 were won by Ahmed Abdallah Mohamed Sambi, a Sunni Muslim Cleric nick-named the "Ayatollah" for his time spent studying Islam in Iran. Azali honored the election results, thus allowing the first-ever peaceful and democratic exchange of power in the archipelagos' recent and turbulent history.
Comoros also is a member of the African Union, the Arab League, the European Development Fund, the World Bank, the International Monetary Fund, the Indian Ocean Commission, and the African Development Bank.

Economy
Comoros is one of the poorest countries in the world. Economic growth and poverty reduction are major priorities for the government. With a rate of 14.3%, unemployment is considered very high. Agriculture, including fishing, hunting, and forestry, is the leading sector of the economy, and 38.4% of the working population is employed in the primary sector.
High population densities, as much as 1000 per square kilometer in the densest agricultural zones, for what is still a mostly rural, agricultural economy may lead to an environmetal crisis in the near future, especially considering the high rate of population growth. The Comoros' real GDP growth was a low 1.9% in 2004 and real GDP per capita was continuing declining annually in 2004. These declines are explained by factors like declining investment, a drop in consumption, rising inflation, and an increase in trade imbalance in part due to lowered cash crop prices, especially vanilla.
Comoros has inadequate transportation system, a young and rapidly increasing population, and few natural resources. The low educational level of the labor force contributes to a subsistence level of economic activity, high unemployment, and a heavy dependence on foreign grants and technical assistance. Agriculture contributes 40% to GDP, employs 80% of the labor force, and provides most of the exports. Comoros is the world's largest producer of ylang-ylang, and a large producer of vanilla.
The government is struggling to upgrade education and technical training, to privatize commercial and industrial enterprises, to improve health services, to diversify exports, to promote tourism, and to reduce the high population growth rate.
The Comoros claims the Banc du Geyser and the Glorioso Islands as part of its exclusive economic zone.

Demographics
With fewer than a million people, the Comoros is one of the least populous countries in the world, but is also one of the most densely populated, with an average of 275 people per kmآ². In 2001, 34% of the population was considered urban, but that is expected to grow, since rural population growth is negative, while overall population growth is still relatively high. Major urban centers include Moroni, Mutsamudu, Domoni, Fomboni, and Tsأ©mbأ©hou.
The islands of the Comoros share mostly African-Arab origins. Sunni Islam is the dominant religion, representing as much as 98% of the population.
The most common language is Comorian, or Shikomor, a descendant of Swahili with Arabic influences. Shingazidja, Shimwali, Shinzwani, and Shimaore are the local dialects spoken on each of the islands, Ngazidja, Mwali, Nzwani, and Mahorأ©, respectively.
French and Arabic are also official languages, along with Comorian. Arabic is widely known as a second language, being the language of Quranic teaching, and French is the language of all other formal education. Malagasy is also spoken by a small number of Malagasy immigrants. About fifty-seven percent of the population is literate in the Latin alphabet, more with the Arabic alphabet; total literacy is estimated at 62.5%. Comorian has no native script, but both Arabic and Latin scripts have been used.