COMORAN UNION PRESIDENT SAMBI AND ANJOUAN'S BACAR

C O N F I D E N T I A L ANTANANARIVO 000023 SIPDIS SIPDIS DEPT FOR AF/E AND AF/FO PARIS FOR D'ELIA E.O. 12958: DECL: 01/04/2017 TAGS: PGOV KDEM PREL CN SUBJECT: COMORAN UNION PRESIDENT SAMBI AND ANJOUAN'S BACAR AT IMPASSE REF: 06 ANTAN 1441 AND PREVIOUS Classified By: Ambassador James D. McGee for Reasons 1.4 (b/d). ¶1. (C) SUMMARY: In separate conversations with Union of the Comoros President Sambi and Anjouan Island "President" Bacar, Ambassador and DCM encouraged dialogue to resolve the ongoing dispute over security responsibility (reftel). A calmly intransigent Bacar insisted he had a right to have armed forces and claimed Sambi failed to communicate with him. President Sambi assured us he wants to avoid military confrontation, but said "I cannot be a President without power," over the entire country. Sambi averred that separatist sentiment in Anjouan had all but died in the ten years since 1997, and again stated that the unpopular Bacar would surely lose a fair election for island president in April. The African Union (AU) has already denied Sambi's request for mediation. END SUMMARY. Sambi Wants Development, Not Conflict -------------- ¶2. (C) An animated Union President Ahmed Abdallah Sambi told the DCM via telephone January 4 that the impasse with Island president Bacar was entirely about weapons and power. Sambi claimed sole constitutional authority over the armed forces of the Union of the Comoros, and reiterated that island governments require only "internal security equipment." Noting that neither Grand Comore nor Moheli island security forces had military hardware, President Sambi said Bacar must accept that Anjouan forces disarm and allow the National Development Army (AND) Union forces to deploy to the port and airports to take responsibility for border surveillance. Repeating his campaign promises to focus on economic development, Sambi lamented several times, "I cannot be a president without power." ¶3. (C) Referring to his recent visit to Anjouan (reftel), President Sambi said he was much more popular than Bacar in Anjouan. He said Bacar exercised control by force and represented a tiny minority of separatists. Sambi, who easily won the primary and national votes in Anjouan in 2006, implied that Bacar could not win reelection fairly. A native of Anjouan who owns several businesses there, Sambi said the Anjouanese population of 2007 is very different from those who supported secession in 1997. His democratic election in May 2006, he claimed, was a mandate from all Comorans who share his desire to prioritize development and poverty reduction. Sambi said he wanted to avoid confrontation with Bacar, and thus had requested international assistance. The AU, having invested substantially in peacekeeping during the April/May 2006 elections, was reluctant to return to Comoros as of late 2006. Sambi's latest requests to the AU had not yet received a reply. Bacar, "I want my own army" -------------- ¶4. (C) In a separate telephone conversation with the Ambassador January 3, Island "President" (read: governor) Mohamed Bacar insisted he had the right to his own army and refused to give up his weapons. He made a vague reference to wanting meetings restarted (which he had walked out of in mid-December) and attempted to scapegoat Sambi as an extremist by attributing comments about "jihad" to the Union President. Bacar further claimed that his confiscation of Union military hardware was because he had not been informed about the delivery. In short, Bacar's message was "I want my own army, and everything will be fine if I can keep the weapons I already have." ¶5. (C) COMMENT: Without some international assistance, the Sambi/Bacar impasse will continue as the April island elections approach. The former appears unlikely to disarm Anjouan by force; the latter will not voluntarily disarm because, among other things, he would not be able to rig his own reelection. The Ambassador offered to "observe" new talks if President Sambi thought USG involvement would be useful. Given the precedent of Anjouan's 1997 secession and the fact that other island police forces do not possess military hardware, Post supports Sambi's argument that Bacar must disarm and defer to the Union Army under Sambi's command. The question is how. END COMMENT. McGEE