Comoros Islands

Desire to Revive Relations with the Completion of the Fomboni Process

President Sambi’s visit to France and his meeting with President Sarkozy on September 28th, 2007 has supported this political development.

The joint visit by the Secretaries of State for Overseas Departments and Territories and Cooperation / French-speaking world - Mr. Jégo and Mr. Joyandet - on May 15th and 16th, 2008, followed by the start of the HLWG session in Paris on June 4th and 5th, 2008, have fulfilled this development. Three new sessions took place on July 10th to 12th, September 17th and 18th, and December 10th to 12th, 2008. A 4th session would have been required to complete the draft text for the Treaty between France and the Union of the Comoros regarding “the circulation of people and goods, regional cooperation, and the Community of the Islands”. However, President Sambi suspended Comoros’ participation in the HLWG, while accepting an informal working group meeting on February 12th, 2009 with the participation of Comoros’ Foreign Affairs Ministry, Mr. Jaffar, two high-level civil servants from his ministry, and three representatives of the Mayotte General Council. New contacts may be made during the first half of 2010 to take up the discussions informally, once the echoes of President Sarkozy’s visit on January 18th, 2010 to Mayotte have faded.

Evolution of the Mayotte Issue

The Mayotte issue has not been submitted to the United Nations General Assembly since 1994. Every year it is pushed back on the UNGA’s agenda to the next year.

Discussions regarding the conditions for the circulation of people and goods between Mayotte and Comoros and the outlook for regional cooperation took place during the joint France-Comoros commission (April 2005). The question of Comorian immigration in Mayotte remains sensitive. 2006 has seen a significant increase in deportations (14,300 compared to 7,655 in 2005 and 8,600 in 2004), which was confirmed in 2007 and 2008 (16,000) and again in 2009 (19,000) despite or because of the Anjouan crisis. Strengthening the fight against immigration must be accompanied by measures designed to settle the populations in Comoros: during their September 28th, 2007 meeting, Presidents Sarkozy and Sambi had agreed that Mayotte’s union with Comoros should be sought through economic integration between the islands and reinforcing the rule of law in Comoros, to make it more attractive with regards to Mayotte.

On October 19th, 2007, the UNGA Bureau decided to push back discussions on the Mayotte issue to the 63rd UNGA session: the HLWG began working in Paris on June 4th and 5th, 2008 with the creation of “regional cooperation” and “circulation of people” subgroups giving hope of concrete progress and the signature of an Ad Hoc Treaty in 2009 (President Sarkozy’s visit), but the announcement of a vote on March 29th, 2009 regarding Mayotte’s accession to Overseas Department status contributed to new tensions between France and Comoros: the Mayotte issue remained on the UNGA’s agenda, but without debate, while the Comorian delegation had a decision condemning this vote adopted during the 12th AU summit in Addis-Ababa (February 1st to 4th, 2009). President Sambi also obtained the condemnation of the French initiative by the Summit of the Arab League in Doha, Qatar in late March 2009 and by the Community of Sahara-Sahel States chaired by President Gaddafi in Sabratha, Libya May 29th and 30th, 2009, then by the Extraordinary Summit of the AU held in Tripoli (August 29th - 31 st, 2009) for the 40th anniversary of Gaddafi’s rise to power. On April 4th, 2009 in Moroni the Indian Ocean Commission’s Council of Ministers, under Comoros’ chairmanship, invited both parties to deal with this issue under the framework of a bilateral dialogue and the Second Latin America - Africa Summit in September 2009 did the same. In early 2010, the 22nd Summit of the Arab League States held in Sirte on March 27th and 28th also recalled the principle of territorial integrity and Comoros’ sovereignty, reaffirming Mayotte’s Comorian identity.

Updated on 20.05.10