Minister Arrested As Presidential Race Heats Up
1923 
0
Moroni
The party of outgoing Union of Comoros President Azali Assoumani has been implicated in a scandal over allegedly trying to influence the outcome of presidential primary elections.
The Union presidency rotates every four years between the Indian Ocean archipelago's three semi-autonomous islands - Grande Comore, Anjouan and Moheli - with Azali, from Grand Comore, winning the first election under the arrangement in 2002.
It is now Anjouan's turn to hold the Union presidency and its 270,000 inhabitants will select three presidential candidates on Sunday, who will go on to stand in national elections on 14 May, in which all 670,000 Comorans will vote.
Aboudou Soefo, foreign minister and member of Azali's Convention for the Renovation of the Comoros (CRC) party, was arrested on Wednesday on the island of Anjouan carrying "millions of Comoran francs of state money to fund the campaign of Ibrahim Halidi Abderemane", said a senior ministry of information official.
Halidi "is the CRC and president [Azali's] favourite, and that influence will help him become one of the three [presidential] candidates to come through for the elections on 14 May", commented Elhad Said Omar, president of Haban Za Komor [News from Comoros], a network of Comoran journalists.
According to a ministry of justice official, Azali has withheld all civil servant salaries for the past five months "to pay for Halidi's campaign, to finance campaign material, vehicles and flights to and from Anjouan. All government employees have been affected, from policemen to people here at the ministry".
None of the 13 presidential candidates belongs to Azali's CRC, and the ruling party has turned to backing Halidi and his Movement for the Comoros Party (MPC), allegedly to protect the substantial commercial interests of senior party members.
However, the fact that "foreign minister [Soefo] has been arrested is a good sign and shows that something is being done, because this is not acceptable", said Abdou Djibaba, director general of communications in the ministry of information.
A meeting with representatives from the ministry of justice, the military and the police was held on Wednesday "to inform the 13 presidential candidates about the situation, and to ensure that the elections are not affected", a local election observer told IRIN.
Azali, a former colonel who first came to power in a coup in 1999, has reiterated his attachment to democracy, good governance and need to fight corruption, but his political opponents accuse him of manoeuvring to retain influence after he steps down.
Since independence from France in 1975, the Comoros have been plagued by coups, and more recently the temporary secession of Anjouan and Moheli. The archipelago's constitution was amended in 2001 to give the individual islands their own semi-autonomous government and president.
[ This report does not necessarily reflect the views of the United Nations ]
The party of outgoing Union of Comoros President Azali Assoumani has been implicated in a scandal over allegedly trying to influence the outcome of presidential primary elections.
The Union presidency rotates every four years between the Indian Ocean archipelago's three semi-autonomous islands - Grande Comore, Anjouan and Moheli - with Azali, from Grand Comore, winning the first election under the arrangement in 2002.
It is now Anjouan's turn to hold the Union presidency and its 270,000 inhabitants will select three presidential candidates on Sunday, who will go on to stand in national elections on 14 May, in which all 670,000 Comorans will vote.
Aboudou Soefo, foreign minister and member of Azali's Convention for the Renovation of the Comoros (CRC) party, was arrested on Wednesday on the island of Anjouan carrying "millions of Comoran francs of state money to fund the campaign of Ibrahim Halidi Abderemane", said a senior ministry of information official.
Halidi "is the CRC and president [Azali's] favourite, and that influence will help him become one of the three [presidential] candidates to come through for the elections on 14 May", commented Elhad Said Omar, president of Haban Za Komor [News from Comoros], a network of Comoran journalists.
According to a ministry of justice official, Azali has withheld all civil servant salaries for the past five months "to pay for Halidi's campaign, to finance campaign material, vehicles and flights to and from Anjouan. All government employees have been affected, from policemen to people here at the ministry".
None of the 13 presidential candidates belongs to Azali's CRC, and the ruling party has turned to backing Halidi and his Movement for the Comoros Party (MPC), allegedly to protect the substantial commercial interests of senior party members.
However, the fact that "foreign minister [Soefo] has been arrested is a good sign and shows that something is being done, because this is not acceptable", said Abdou Djibaba, director general of communications in the ministry of information.
A meeting with representatives from the ministry of justice, the military and the police was held on Wednesday "to inform the 13 presidential candidates about the situation, and to ensure that the elections are not affected", a local election observer told IRIN.
Azali, a former colonel who first came to power in a coup in 1999, has reiterated his attachment to democracy, good governance and need to fight corruption, but his political opponents accuse him of manoeuvring to retain influence after he steps down.
Since independence from France in 1975, the Comoros have been plagued by coups, and more recently the temporary secession of Anjouan and Moheli. The archipelago's constitution was amended in 2001 to give the individual islands their own semi-autonomous government and president.
[ This report does not necessarily reflect the views of the United Nations ]
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