MORONI, Comoros (AFP) — African Union troops will arrive Monday in the Comoros before launching a military offensive against the island of Anjouan and its rebellious leader, the government of the Indian Ocean nation said.
Anjouan leader Mohamed Bacar is at loggerheads with Comoros' President Ahmed Abdallah Sambi after he held local elections last year against the orders of the government and the AU.
"In the next 24 hours, we will see soldiers and military equipment arrive at our airports," government spokesman Abdourahim Said Bakar told AFP.
Libya, Senegal, Sudan and Tanzania, which chairs the AU, have offered to supply troops for the AU-led offensive.
Tanzania's Foreign Minister Bernard Membe urged Bacar last month to quit the island or surrender, warning that otherwise he would be arrested by Comoran and AU troops and tried for war crimes.
Bacar has spurned AU calls, calling instead for negotiations.
The pan-African bloc insists his time has run out.
Membe and Libyan Minister for African Affairs Ali Triki met Sunday with Sambi a day after defence and foreign ministers from the four countries held a ministerial meeting in Tanzania over the Anjouan crisis.
Sambi has vowed to use force to regain control over Anjouan and has sent troops to the neighbouring island of Moheli.
"The ministers reiterated their full support to efforts being undertaken by the government of the Union of Comoros to restore its authority in Anjouan and preserve unity and territorial integrity of Comoros," the ministers said in a statement.
"Any attempt by the illegal authorities of Anjouan to resist the planned military intervention shall be deemed a criminal act and shall be dealt with accordingly," they added.
The Comoros, comprising Grande Comore, Anjouan and Moheli, has endured 19 coups or coup attempts since winning independence from France in 1975.
The union was formed in 2001 by the three autonomous islands to maintain sovereignty in the wake of 1997 secession bids by Anjouan and Moheli.
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