Tanzania Sends 500 AU Troops to Comoros

Tanzania is sending 500 African Union troops to the Comoro Islands to support a military assault to regain control of the rebel island of Anjouan.

Although both Foreign Affairs Minister Bernard Membe and Defence Minister Hussein Mwinyi are tight-lipped about the whole military operation, media reports from the Comoros said the first contingent of Tanzanian troops joined other AU troops that arrived there on Tuesday.

“The first contingent arrived this afternoon (Tuesday) composed of Tanzanians,” according to Bacar Dossar, director of the Comoros president’s cabinet charged with defense

He did not give the precise number, but said 500 Tanzanian troops were due to arrive this week on the troubled Indian Ocean islands to quell a rebellion.

The AU has led mediation efforts to end a crisis that emerged when Anjouan’s self-declared leader, Mohamed Bacar, claimed victory in an illegal poll he staged in June last year.

The AU refused to recognize the election on the tropical island, which tried in 1997 to break away from the other islands that form the Indian Ocean archipelago known as the Comoros.

Tanzanian President Jakaya Kikwete is the current chairman of the AU and has pledged Tanzania’s readiness to provide military support to the Comoros government to flush out the rebels from the island.

Source African Press Agency

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