Identifier
Created
Classification
Origin
09ANTANANARIVO115
2009-02-20 05:07:00
UNCLASSIFIED//FOR OFFICIAL USE ONLY
Embassy Antananarivo
Cable title:  

Comorans Rally Against Sambi

Tags:  PGOV PHUM PREL EAID ECON CN 
pdf how-to read a cable
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DE RUEHAN #0115/01 0510507
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
P 200507Z FEB 09
FM AMEMBASSY ANTANANARIVO
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC PRIORITY 2099
INFO RUEHZO/AFRICAN UNION COLLECTIVE
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DEPT FOR AF/E AND AF/FO

E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: PGOV PHUM PREL EAID ECON CN
SUBJECT: Comorans Rally Against Sambi

REF: ANTAN 107
ANTAN 102

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DEPT FOR AF/E AND AF/FO

E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: PGOV PHUM PREL EAID ECON CN
SUBJECT: Comorans Rally Against Sambi

REF: ANTAN 107
ANTAN 102


1. (U) SUMMARY: Dozens of opposition leaders, Imams, and elder
leaders representing all three islands held a rally February 18
calling on the people to actively prevent President Sambi's
constitutional referendum from taking place. They denounced the
president as illegitimate and dangerous, vowing to take their case
to the Constitutional Court and hold more rallies in the coming
days. END SUMMARY.

"Opposition Declares War On Referendum"
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -


2. (U) The opposition newspaper La Gazette, island radio and
television covered the February 18 opposition rally in Iconi,
outside Moroni. Coverage highlighted opposition, religious, and
traditional leaders denouncing President Sambi as "liar," "traitor,"
and "Shi'a devil." Their many complaints include: Sambi's
questionable appointments to control the Constitutional Court in
July, 2008; his promulgating an economic citizenship law allegedly
without proper approval from the legislature; his ties to Shi'a
Iran; failure to deliver campaign promises on housing and
development; consolidating "dictatorial" power at the expense of
island autonomy; and jeopardizing Comoran unity by attempting to
extend his mandate, delaying Moheli's turn in the rotating
presidency.


3. (SBU) Former Grande Comore island president El-Bak, who studied
with Sambi in Medina, Saudi Arabia, said the president was expelled
for being a poor Islamic student, went to Sudan, and eventually to
Iran. El-Bak said Sambi remains under Iranian influence, and is
excessively influenced by "questionable investors" like the Comoro
Gulf Holdings group who actively lobbied for the economic
citizenship law. (Note: Contacts allege - without any evidence -
that Comoran passports are already being sold to foreigners,
possibly stateless Bedouins from Kuwait and Saudi Arabia. End
Note.)


4. (SBU) Current Grande Comore island president Abdulawahab repeated
publicly what he recently told Comoros Officer (REF B): that the
opposition will refuse dialogue with Sambi if he insists on holding
a constitutional referendum immediately thereafter. He called on
the Imams and elder "notables" from all three islands to tell their
communities to prevent Union officials from campaigning for the
referendum in March. Abdouwahab said villages should not accept
voting materials nor allow voting bureaus to be set up for the March
22 referendum. Said Mchamgama, President of the Mayors' Association
of Grande Comore representing over 40 major towns, told Comoros
Officer he believed most communities would actively block the
referendum.


5. (U) Former Prime Minister and Mohelian Bolero joined the chorus,
calling the referendum illegal if it extended Sambi in office and
denied Moheli its rightful turn. Former Anjouanese island minister
Halidy also spoke out against the referendum. A recurring theme
among opposition speakers was that Sambi's home island, Anjouan,
started the crisis in 1997 by seceding from the Comoros, leading to
the reconciliation agreements and constitution that created the
rotating presidency. "Anjouan seceded and we created a rotating
presidency to restore the Union; now an Anjouanese president is
blocking the rotation," goes the accusation.
Interestingly, several speakers praised former President Azali as a
democrat for voluntarily stepping down in 2006 when Sambi was
elected (REF A).


6. (SBU) Perhaps more damning were the statements of Imams and
traditional elder "Notables" who command much respect among Comoran
people. President Sambi, a Muslim cleric himself, has shrewdly
courted these leaders since he was a presidential candidate in 2005.
At Iconi, many of them, from all three islands, said that Sambi had
betrayed moderate Sunni Comorans with his ties to Shi'ism.


7. (U) In Moheli, where leaders stand to have to wait an additional
year for their turn in the rotating presidency if the referendum
passes, Union military forces reportedly dispersed an anti-Sambi
rally February 17.

COMMENT:
- - - - -


8. (SBU) The February 18 rally, while attracting only a few hundred
Comorans, was significant on two counts. One, typically disunited
opposition politicians representing all three islands stood together
to denounce President Sambi and call on communities to actively
prevent the March 22 referendum from taking place. Two, many Imams
and notables -- traditional Comoran leaders comprising the core of
Sambi's constituency -- have turned against the
cleric-turned-President for religious betrayal. END COMMENT.


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