FOMBONI, Comoros (AFP) — The Comoros on Tuesday promised fresh elections in May in the rebel isle of Anjouan as it prepared a military operation to oust renegade leader Mohamed Bacar.
"After the operation on Anjouan and the restoration of constitutional order, there will be a transitional government which will have to swiftly organise elections to be held in May," Comoran Vice President Idi Nadhoim told AFP.
Colonel Bacar has ruled Anjouan -- one of the three islands in the Indian Ocean Comoran federation -- since June 2007 elections which were not recognised by the central authorities nor the African Union (AU).
Comoran government troops and AU-mandated contingents from Senegal, Sudan and Tanzania are currently gathering on the island of Moheli for a military operation aimed at wresting back control of Anjouan.
"Provisions have been made for the interim (period). Once Colonel Bacar is deposed, there will be consultations with the African Union and the international community," Nadhoim said.
Each one of the tiny archipelago's three islands has its own president and institutions. Bacar was elected as the Anjouanese president in 2002 but his 2007 re-election was rejected by the federal government.
South Africa's foreign minister said Tuesday there was still time for talks and a negotiated solution to the crisis.
"We believe that there is still the possibility of solving this dispute diplomatically," Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma said.
But the Comoran central authorities appeared in no mood to give Bacar another chance.
"Colonel Bacar will be arrested if he does not flee and will face Comoran courts for treason, usurpation of power, torture and war crimes, as documented by complaints which Anjouanese victims have filed," Nadhoim said.
Several witnesses have told AFP of cases of torture on Anjouan under Bacar's rule.
So far, around 400 Comoran troops from the National Development Army (AND) have regrouped on the Moheli. Most of the AU reinforcements are still on the main island of Grande Comore.
"It has been agreed that the operation will be conducted with the African Union troops, who want to take all appropriate measures to minimise the damage in Anjouan," Nadhoim said.
"But it's true that all this is taking too much time, civilians are growing increasingly restless and so are the soldiers, even if morale remains good," he added.
In Moheli, paramilitary chief Cheikh Mohamed said he was keeping his forces training daily to "avoid idleness and inaction".
Several tents and other palmed-roofed sheds and make-shift toilets make up the troops' camp in Moheli, the smallest of the three islands and home to some 45,000 people.
More than one month of tarrying on the tiny isle has caused impatience even among top soldiers who can't wait for the operation to begin, with some questioning the need to wait for AU forces.
The fractious archipelago has survived 19 coups or coup attempts since it acquired independence from France in 1975.
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