page_title: 2008 invasion of Anjouan
section_title: Pre-invasion incidents
hierarchical_section_title: 2008 invasion of Anjouan / Background / Pre-invasion incidents
context_page_description: The invasion of Anjouan, on 25 March 2008, was an amphibious assault led by the Comoros, backed by African Union forces, including troops from Sudan, Tanzania, Senegal, along with logistical support from Libya and France. The objective of the invasion was to topple Colonel Mohamed Bacar's leadership in Anjouan, an island in the Union of Comoros, when he refused to step down after a disputed 2007 election, in defiance of the federal government and the AU. The Comoros archipelago in the Indian Ocean has had a fractious history since independence from France in 1975, experiencing more than 20 coups or attempted coups.
  The invasion occurred on the early morning of 25 March 2008. The main towns were quickly overrun and the island was declared under the control of the invading forces the same day. Mohamed Bacar managed to escape to Mayotte on March 26 and requested political asylum. He was subsequently held in custody there by the French administration and brought to the island of Réunion. On 15 May France rejected Bacar's request for asylum but the French refugee office ruled that the ousted leader could not be extradited to the Comoros because of the risk of persecution.
context_section_description: On 3 March 2008, a fuel ship supplying the Comoros Army caught fire in the port of Comoros' capital, Moroni. The cause of the fire was unknown. On 11 March an armed incursion occurred on the islands where three members of the Anjouan Militia loyal to President Bacar were captured and taken to Mohéli for interrogation.  Diplomacy continued with an intervention by South African President Mbeki who attempted to delay the planned AU invasion to the distinct displeasure of the Comorian Government.
  It is understood that Mbeki spoke to the head of the AU, Tanzanian President Jakaya Kikwete, by phone on 14 March to stall the attack, intended to depose Bacar.
  Despite this intervention, a fishing boat with soldiers left Moheli for Anjouan on 14 March. There were conflicting statements from both sides, with Comoran and AU military sources reporting that a fishing boat carrying around fifty soldiers from the Government of Comoros landed in southern Anjouan and attempted to capture a police station. In a later statement Comoran Chief of Staff Salim Mohamed revised the information and said a reconnaissance team of about 10 soldiers landed on 14 March in the south of Anjouan island and reached the southern town of Domoni. Two soldiers were wounded, a federal source said. "The target of the operation was the Domoni police station in Anjouan so as to free political prisoners," said the source.
  The troops then retreated back to Mohéli and returned to Anjouan on Sunday 16 March to rescue the two wounded soldiers. According to a military source one federal soldier suffered an arm injury and another had a minor foot injury.  The same sources reported that during the course of the operation "about twenty people" in Domoni died as a result of the Comoran and AU bombardment of Anjouanese positions. These facts were disputed by the Anjouan administration which insisted that one of the two Comoran soldiers who had attacked Anjouanais positions in Domoni on 15 March had in fact died and that the police station was not captured. They stated that the Comoran and AU forces had been ambushed by Anjouanais forces during the early stages of their incursion at Domoni and had been forced to withdraw from what was a hopeless situation,
  Contrary to its republican mission the National Army of Development (Comoran Army) devotes itself to taking innocent citizens as hostages whose only wrong is to be Anjouanese and not Sambist. In addition to the fishermen kidnapped at Marahare and Mromhouli, a second aggression [by] the National Army of Development dissident forces supported by the trawler provided by Iran failed. The elements of the [Anjouanese] Gendarmerie retaliated in self-defence, wounding two of the gangster attackers including one lethally.
  France's role in the crisis was brought into question when, on 19 March a French police helicopter on an unauthorised, clandestine mission from the French-administered Comoro island of Mayotte crashed in the sea close to the city of Sima on Anjouan. Reports from officials in the Comoros said that no one was hurt in the crash. The helicopter was owned by France's Mayotte-based air and border police force. Critics allege the helicopter was involved in an attempt to bring Bacar into French exile, and that Bacar was only holding out so long because he was protected by the French. Lieutenant-Colonel Salimou Mohamed Amiri, Comoros Government Spokesman, declared:
  We don't know what it was doing. You can imagine the rumors. The Government of Comoros did not allow them to come. They were not authorized ... The French said they sent other air and naval assets to pick up the crew.
  The French military had already transported about 300 Tanzanian troops and 30 tons of freight to Grand Comore between 14 March and 16 March. According to reports a French diplomat said that France was ready to transport Senegalese troops as well, but had not yet done so. The diplomatic source said France remains "favourable" to dialogue but on condition that Bacar accepts the presence of African troops at the port and airport of Anjouan.
caption: Location of Anjouan in the Comoros
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