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