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The Union of Comoros is ruled by former Army Col. President Azali Assoumani. The political situation in Comoros has been extremely fluid since the country's independence in 1975, subject to the volatility of coups and political insurrection. Colonel Azali seized power in a bloodless coup in April 1999, overthrowing interim President Tadjiddine Ben Said Massounde, who himself had held the office since the death of democratically elected President Mohamed Taki Abdoulkarim in November 1998. In May 1999, Azali decreed a constitution that gave him both executive and legislative powers. Bowing somewhat to international criticism, Azali appointed a civilian Prime Minister, Bainrifi Tarmidi, in December 1999; however, Azali retained the mantle of head of state and army commander. In December 2000, Azali named a new civilian Prime Minister, Hamada Madi, and formed a new civilian cabinet. When Azali took power he had pledged to step down in 2000 and relinquish control to a democratically elected president. Instead, in 2001, Azali resigned from the military and ran as a civilian candidate for the national presidency. He was elected in 2002 in flawed but fair elections. In a separate nod to pressure to fully restore civilian rule, the government organized several committees to compose a new constitution, including the August 2000 National Congress and November 2000 Tripartite Commission. The opposition parties initially refused to participate in the Tripartite Commission, but on February 17, 2001 representatives of the government, Anjouan separatists, the political opposition, and civil society organizations signed a "Framework Accord for Reconciliation in Comoros," brokered by the Organization for African Unity (OAU), now the African Union. The accord called for the creation of a new Tripartite Commission for National Reconciliation to develop a "New Comorian Entity" with a new constitution. Although the commission set June 2001 as its goal for completing the constitution and December 2001 for the national elections, disagreements over procedure and goals delayed completion of the draft constitution. On December 23, 2001, the draft constitution was adopted by referendum. The African Union and the Francophonie organization have encouraged continued negotiation over the outstanding fiscal and political issues dividing the national government and the regional island authorities. The principal disagreements concern distribution of national revenues and authority over law enforcement and national security. Elections for the individual island assemblies and the National Assembly were completed in March and April 2004, respectively, and were deemed generally free and fair by international observers. The National Assembly is tasked with finalizing a constitution. |
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