Comoros - country.
Publié le 04/05/2013
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Since 1981 the currency has been the Comorian franc. The Comorian franc had a fixed exchange rate with the French franc of 50 to 1 until 1994, when the rate was changed to 75 Comorian francs to 1 French franc.
In 2006, the Comorian franc exchanged at an average of 392 to U.S.$1.
Transport between the islands is mostly by air, and there is an international airport at Hahaia on Njazidja where jets can land.
Road networks have been built betweenmost of the main island settlements, but the mountainous terrain means that the majority of journeys are still made on foot.
Public transport has traditionally beenoperated by private truck owners.
In spite of improvements to port facilities, only small freighters can unload alongside the docks in Mutsamudu or Moroni, the two mainports.
Much of the fishing is still carried out from traditional outrigger canoes (canoes with extra pieces of wood attached along the side).
Radio is the most common form of communication.
In 1997 Comoros had 141 radio receivers for every 1,000 inhabitants.
The state-owned Radio Comores transmits broadcasts from France and the Comorian government.
Private stations linked to political parties occasionally broadcast on the radio as well.
Television broadcasts exist,but there were only 5 television sets for every 1,000 Comorians in 1998.
Comoros has 28 telephone mainlines per 1,000 people, with most of the telephones ingovernment offices or on commercial premises.
The government-owned newspaper Al Watany is published in French, as is L’Archipel, an independent newspaper.
V GOVERNMENT
According to a 2001 constitution, the three islands of Comoros constitute a union.
Each island elects its own legislature and president, which are responsible forestablishing and enforcing its own fundamental laws in accordance with the national constitution.
On the national level, legislative power is vested in the Assembly of theUnion, whose 30 members serve five-year terms.
Half of the members are selected by the individual islands’ legislatures (each island selects five members), and theother half are popularly elected.
The head of state is a president, who is popularly elected to a four-year term.
The presidency rotates among the three islands.
Two vicepresidents, representing the other two islands, assist the president.
Judicial power resides with the Supreme Court, which rules on fiscal and administrative issues, andthe High Council, which considers constitutional matters.
VI HISTORY
The history of the Comoros archipelago has largely been determined by the geographical location of the islands.
Traders and seafarers from Africa and Madagascar wereattracted to the islands because they provided fertile soil, timber for building boats, and important stops on long-distance trade routes.
By the 15th century, tradingtowns had been built, and they played a significant part in regional trade, selling food or Malagasy slaves to pirates or to visiting European company ships.
In the late18th century the islands suffered severely from slave raids.
Sakalava and Betsimisaraka chiefs from northern Madagascar conducted the raids to capture and enslaveComorians.
During this period all the towns were fortified with citadels and town walls, many of which form a picturesque background to the modern urban scene.
Bythe 1840s Malagasy chiefs controlled Mayotte and Mwali, and in 1843 one of these, Andriansouli, ceded Mayotte to the French.
French influence gradually dominated allthe islands, and they became a French protectorate in 1886.
The promoters of French plantation companies obtained forced labor from the peasantry of the Comoros, who had to lease their land from the companies.
In 1912 theislands were formally made a colony and placed under the government of the French colony of Madagascar, after they had experienced nearly 30 years of exploitationby French land company promoters.
Toward the beginning of World War II (1939-1945), the colonial administration in Madagascar sided with the French Vichygovernment, which collaborated with the occupying German Nazis.
Afraid that the islands might fall to the Japanese and be used as bases for submarine attacks, Britishforces invaded the Comoros and Madagascar in 1942 and restored them to the Free French government of Charles de Gaulle.
In 1946 the Comoros were given theirown conseil général (general council), and they were separated from the government of Madagascar in 1960.
In that same year Madagascar became an independent republic, but the Comoros stayed under French rule.
A referendum on independence was held in the Comoros in 1974, when Mayotte voted by a small majority to remain with France.
France put up no opposition when theother three islands declared their independence in 1975.
Since 1975, however, France has continued to play a dominant role in the life of the islands and has made useof mercenaries four times to bring about changes in regime.
Comoros remains closely tied to France and its interests in the Indian Ocean.
After independence, Comoros became politically unstable.
A revolution shortly after independence installed a radical nationalist regime under Ali Soilih, which wasoverthrown by a coup led by mercenaries in 1978.
The country was then ruled by President Ahmed Abdulla, who was backed by French mercenaries and by SouthAfrica until he was assassinated in 1989.
Said Mohamed Djohar then took office and held onto power precariously until he was deposed in September 1995 by yetanother coup, led by French mercenary Bob Denard.
French troops intervened and arrested Denard in October.
In March 1996 Mohamed Taki Abdulkarim was elected president, in the first democratic elections held since Comoros gained independence from France.
Taki drafted anew constitution that extended the authority of the president and established Islam as the basis for all legislation.
Discontent with Taki soon spread across the country,and in mid-1997 the islands of Nzwani and Mwali separately declared their independence from the Comoros.
In September dozens of Comorian troops were killed in afailed military operation to put down the secession on Nzwani.
In late 1998 Taki died of a heart attack and was succeeded by an interim president.
In April 1999representatives from the three islands attended talks, mediated by the African Union (OAU), that were aimed at restoring unity.
An agreement was reached that wouldrestore a looser federation, with increased autonomy for the two smaller islands.
Only the Nzwani delegation refused to sign the accord, saying it had to consult itspeople.
Within days, riots broke out on Njazidja aimed at people from Nzwani.
On April 30 the army staged a bloodless military coup, claiming it was necessary torestore order.
The interim government was dissolved, and army chief of staff Colonel Azali Assoumani assumed control.
Pledging to abide by the OAU agreement andreturn the Comoros to civilian rule, he formed a transitional government.
A new constitution, giving each island a significant degree of autonomy over its own financesand laws, was approved by a national referendum in December 2001.
The constitution specified that the presidency would rotate among the three islands.
In April 2002Azali, of Njazidja, was elected the first president under this system.
Contributed By:Malyn D.
D.
NewittMicrosoft ® Encarta ® 2009. © 1993-2008 Microsoft Corporation.
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