AU troops in clashes on Anjouan

Residents of Anjouan in the Comoros islands cheer arriving African Union troops after they took control of the port and surrounding areas yesterday. PHOTO: AP

African Union (AU) troops yesterday entered the capital of the Comoros rebel island of Anjouan to oust its president, sparking fierce fighting near the presidential palace and the airport.

AU engaged in heavy clashes with forces loyal to Anjouanese leader Mohamed Bacar near his residence in Ouani, north of the capital Mutsamudu.

Other Tanzanian soldiers entered Mutsamudu without resistance and were cheered on by locals, witnesses said.

Federal Comoran forces deployed with AU forces in the fight against Bacar, fired from a ship docked off the shore of Ouani, where heavy explosions and rifle fire could be heard.

Bacar's tying red ribbons -- the color of the Anjouan flag -- around the barrels of their assault rifles, were deployed on the road between Mutsamudu and Ouani and around the cliffs of the capital early yesterday.

Several Comoran soldiers said that they had landed in Ouani with Tanzanian troops in the offensive named Operation Democracy in the Comoros.

Comoros Ahmed Abdallah Mohamed Sambi announced in a nationally televised address on Monday that he had given the green light to a long-threatened joint operation by Comoran and AU forces to reunify the Indian Ocean archipelago.

Heavy fire, probably from a high-calibre machine gun, began around 5am.

Ships the AU and Comoran troops had left the nearby island of Moheli early on Monday and a helicopter dropped leaflets on Anjouan warning citizens that the taskforce could arrive within hours to depose Bacar.

"I have ordered the Comoran army and the the forces of our country's friends to bring Anjouan back under the rule of law and free her citizens," Sambi said, adding that he did so "without joy, like swallowing a bitter pill."

Since winning independence from France in 1975, the Comoros have never known constitutional stability and have faced 19 coups or coup attempts.

Bacar the elected president of Anjouan -- each of the three islands in the federation has its own leader under a federal president -- since 2002.

He ran for re-election last June in a poll that was declared illegal by Sambi's federal government and was never recognized by the AU. He has run the territory as a breakaway province ever since.

In an interview on Thursday, Bacar had taken a defiant stand.

"I am still determined to defend Anjouan despite my concern that people are ready to come here and fire on the Anjouanese. But I am continuing with my preparations to defend Anjouan," he said.

In addition to the AU, France, the country's former colonial power, has given the operation to oust Bacar its blessing and helped air-lift the AU troops to the area.