FRENCH VIEW OF THE COMOROS

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 ANTANANARIVO 000692 SIPDIS SIPDIS PARIS FOR D'ELIA AND RKANEDA E.O. 12958: DECL: 07/13/2017 TAGS: CN EAID FR PGOV PINR PREL SUBJECT: FRENCH VIEW OF THE COMOROS REF: ANTANANARIVO 685 AND PREVIOUS ANTANANARI 00000692 001.2 OF 002 Classified By: CHARGE D'AFFAIRES GEORGE N. SIBLEY FOR REASONS 1.4 B,D ¶1. (C) French Ambassador to the Comoros, Christian Job, met Charge July 9 in Moroni and provided an overview of French-Comoran relations. According to Job, from the French side the relationship is grounded in four facts. First, the shared history dating from 1841. Second, legitimate French interests in the Indian Ocean that they will defend vigorously. Third, the large Comoran diaspora residing in France. Fourth, the need to provide development assistance in an effort to reduce the economic disparity between the Union of the Comoros and the French administered island of Mayotte, and thus to reduce -- or at least not to further increase -- the magnet appeal of Mayotte for illegal migration. ¶2. (C) Job remarked that some saw a competition between the U.S. and France in the Comoros, but that he saw our interests as being almost entirely aligned. He noted that a U.S. firm (Frontier Resources) was conducting initial seismic surveys in a search for oil within the Comoros' territorial waters, but that he had earlier offered this opportunity to the French oil giant Total who had shown no interest whatever in the Comoran prospects. In reply, Charge noted that ExxonMobil had likewise evinced no interest and expressed the hope that the Government of the Comoros was not bearing any of the exploration risk given the miniscule likelihood of success. Rather than competing economic interests, Job stressed our common interest in stability and in ensuring the Comoros do not become a source of or haven for terrorists. ¶3. (C) As he has in the past, Job was highly critical of Union President Ahmed Abdallah Sambi, repeating his earlier characterization of Sambi as an extremist Muslim cleric who was seeking to radicalize the Comoros. Job noted that the Comorans are all Muslims, but "relaxed" Muslims who do not wear conservative dress or practice the religion rigorously. In Job's view, Sambi intended to change that and the Comoran people were likely to resent the President for doing so. In fact, Job doubted that Sambi would last the remaining four years of his term in office. Job noted that Sambi's popularity was waning as the economy declined and as promised aid from Muslim countries failed to materialize. In particular, Job noted, there had been no follow through on the aid promised by the large Iranian delegation who had visited shortly after Sambi's inauguration. ¶4. (C) Job stressed that the French Government had no interest in fomenting instability in the Comoros and was not involved in any way in the power struggle on Anjouan. Charge noted that Sambi has been careful -- in his public speech on July 6 as well as in private meetings with us -- to distinguish private French citizens who were believed to be supporting rebel Anjouan warlord Mahamed Bacar as opposed to the French Government which certainly was not. Job scoffed at the notion that any French citizens, except perhaps some of Comoran origin, would involve themselves in the Comoros' internal affairs. Job said that, at the Union Government's request, he had personally cancelled the French visa of Mohamed Bacar's brother (and head of the Anjouan gendarmes) the day before that individual was interdicted on Mayotte and returned, by the French authorities, back to Anjouan. He was not clear why the French honored one Union Government request -- to cancel the visa -- but did not honor the other -- to deliver Bacar's brother to the capital rather than back to Anjouan. According to Job, Bacar's brother was not carrying cash, the rumor that is extant throughout the Comoros. ¶5. (C) COMMENT and BIO NOTE. Wearing a bow tie and smoking an enormous cheroot, Job is a bit of an eccentric and his slightly condescending approach to the Comoros suggests a yearning for the "good old days" when the French were lords of the land. In this context, his ongoing critique of President Sambi as a radical Islamist reflects -- from our perspective at least -- an anti-Muslim bias that is not confirmed in either Sambi's words or actions to date. Job was frank in acknowledging that the French had hoped to see former Vice President Caabi win the Union elections and remained disappointed that Caabi had not even made it through the primaries. Job comes out of the gendarmerie and has made a late career specialty of small island entities, serving in the Seychelles (1995-1998) and Wallis and Futuna (2002-2005) before being named Ambassador to the Union of the Comoros. After his mandatory retirement in 2008 he said he intends to enter politics, noting he has ties to senior members of ANTANANARI 00000692 002.2 OF 002 President Sarkozy's party. END COMMENT and BIO NOTE. SIBLEY