Army believed ready to move against secession

Apparent preparations by the army in the Comoros Islands to end a secession by force gathered pace yesterday when some 300 soldiers…

Apparent preparations by the army in the Comoros Islands to end a secession by force gathered pace yesterday when some 300 soldiers left the capital Moroni and appeared destined for Anjouan, witnesses said. They said the soldiers left Moroni at 10.30 a.m. (0730 GMT).

Moroni residents said telephone lines between Moroni and the islands of Anjouan and Moheli appeared to have been severed.

The soldiers sailed on board two ships they seized on Monday. The captains of the ships had refused to sail overnight and it was not clear under what circumstances they accepted.

Comoros authorities earlier told Mr Pierre Yeye, special envoy to the Comoros for the Organisation of African Unity, that the troops at Moroni port were merely going on manoeuvres.

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Speculation about a military intervention has grown on Grande Comore, largest of the three-island group in the Indian Ocean that forms the Federal Islamic Republic of the Comoros.

Anjouan and Moheli islands set up their own administrations last month as a prelude to independence, a return to French rule or far greater autonomy.

Poverty in the Comoros, with some 670,000 people, contrasts with comparative prosperity on the island of Mayotte, which voted against independence in 1975 and remains under French rule.

On Monday authorities put the captain of one ship, the Islands Frigate, under house arrest and then seized a second ship Sima Town II for the project. The captain, whose owners are in breakaway Anjouan, refused to do duty.

The Islands Frigate captain, Mr Abdoula Moilim, was arrested on Monday afternoon in Moroni after his crew disappeared.

Mr Abdoulmajid Kassim of the company that owns Sima Town II said on Monday that the ship's captain, Mr Toilha Abdou, was held by port security officials but had told them he would rather die than transport the troops to Anjouan.

Mr Kassim quoted Mr Abdou as saying the army would have to pay him for the ship and then take it if they wanted to.

Passengers on the Sima Town II, which sailed to Moroni from Anjouan on Monday, reported that rebel soldiers there were on high alert and preparing to fight Comoros troops.

Some passengers said they had seen the deployment of heavy weapons in strategic positions on the island as the secessionists positioned themselves for any eventuality.

The OAU has announced it will host peace talks between all the parties to the dispute in the Comoros at its headquarters in the Ethiopian capital between September 10th and 17th.

France has denounced secessionist unrest, saying it could destabilise the whole region of Indian Ocean islands.