[The following interview appeared in the June 20-26 issue of Rouge, weekly newspaper of the Revolutionary Communist League (LCR), French section of the Fourth International. The interview was conducted by Jean- Jacques Laredo. The translation from French and information in brackets are by Intercontinental Press.]
The Democratic Front of the Comoro Islands (FDC) has just been hit hard by repression. In France, FDC members have taken part in activities in support of the struggle of the Kanak people [of New Caledonia]. One of the front's leaders, Youssouf Moussa, assistant general-secretary of the executive bureau of the FDC, passed through Paris. We were fortunate enough to interview him.
Question. Many people in France know very little about the Comoros. Could you describe them in a few words?
Answer. The Comoro archipelago is made up of four islands, Grande Comore, Anjouan, Mayotte, and Mohéli.
On July 6, 1975, the Comoros achieved independence [from France] through a unilateral declaration by the Comoros Chamber of Deputies, overturning its status as [a French] Overseas Territory. But as you know, France seized upon this declaration of independence to organize the secession of Mayotte. As a result, Mayotte is not part of the Federal Islamic Republic of the Comoros and has the status of a "territorial collectivity" in the French Republic.
The economic activity of the population is based on agriculture because, according to the French experts, the Comoros subsoil does not contain riches. In addition to market agriculture there is also subsistence agriculture on a soil that rapidly becomes exhausted.
All manufactured products are imported. But that is not all. Meat and even fish are imported from South Africa, including to Mayotte. That is crazy when you realize that the waters around the Comoros are among the best fishing grounds in the world
It should be stressed that in spite of all this some people in the Comoros live in opulence. That is the case with [President] Ahmed Abdallah and the mercenaries led by Bob Denard, who insure the defense of Abdallah's regime. These mercenaries have lucrative businesses in the import-export field, tourism, or land. You can also imagine the degree of corruption that reigns in the highest spheres of the state.
Meanwhile, the population faces serious problems of malnutrition, and the Comoro Islands are in the group of 35 least developed countries (LDCs). This is one of the causes of the Comoro emigration, which is estimated to number 20,000-30,000 in France. [Total population is estimated to be 400,000.]
Q. You could say that France made and unmade the present regime.
A. After the referendum on self-determination, the government of [then French President Valéry] Giscard maneuvered to count the votes on an island-by-island basis and to provoke the secession of Mayotte through the vote on the July 6, 1975, law.
Indian Ocean Zanzibar
COMORO
TANZANIA
ISLANDS
AFRICA
Mayotte' Channel
MOZAMBIQUE Mozambique
MALAGASY REPUBLIC
Miles 300 0
JF
Less than one month after independence, Abdallah was overthrown by a coup fomented by France. Three years later, France organized a new coup that placed Ahmed Abdallah back in the saddle. In both cases, the coups were carried out by Bob Denard's mercenaries.
l. What kind of regime was put in place?
A. Ahmed Abdallah's view is that the Comoros are not mature enough for democracy and that therefore there has to be a one-party regime for a whole period. We have already heard this said of other countries in Africa. This has not succeeded in reducing all opposition to silence.
The Democratic Front of the Comoro Islands was set up for the 1982 legislative elections. But before that, there was already activity around the distribution of a bulletin called La Voix du Peuple (The Voice of the People), embodying a more radical opposition to the regime of the big bourgeoisie and the mercenaries.
Q. Last March 8 there was a mutiny of the presidential guards. What was behind that?
A. The events of March 8 were simply the culmination of a sharp crisis that has been racking the regime, especially since the reelection of Abdallah on Sept. 30, 1984. It took one month to set up a government, and Abdallah dismissed it after three months and set about to revise the constitution to concentrate power in his hands and prevent the splintering of his base of support.
What is certain is that these elements of the presidential guard revolted against the treatment they were subjected to by the mercenaries leading them. Their objective was to get rid of the mercenaries, without having any further political plan whatsoever.
The regime seized this opportunity to unleash large-scale repression against the opposition, and particularly against the FDC. During this repression, the people of the Comoros saw a real state of siege in which the mercenaries made all the decisions.
Q. Did the repression hit the FDC hard?
A. Most of the FDC leaders who were in
Moroni [the capital city, on the island of Grand Comore] were arrested, as well as the intermediate cadres and the activists present in the three islands. It is estimated that some 60 people were arrested. We have learned that these prisoners were beaten, tortured, and held under especially hard conditions of detention - in darkness, without food, without being able to wash.
Q. What is France doing in the Comoros?
A. France is involved not just in Mayotte. The proof of this is that France is present everwhere in the Federal Islamic Republic. France provides leadership for the gendarmes and the Comoros army. In other words, France does what it wants, and you cannot speak of Comoros sovereignty at the present time.
Each minister, and even the president, has his own French technical adviser. Teaching and programs are set up by France. Everything continues as in the times of the direct colonization. The only difference is having a national anthem and a flag.
As a whole, the islands are a strategic point in the Mozambique Channel [between Madagascar and the mainland of Africa], and France is absolutely determined to hold onto them. That is the reason for its hostility toward the FDC.
Instructors from the DST [Defense and Security of the Territory — the French national police] developed Abdallah's repressive apparatus. France is ready to change presidents but it is not keen on a change in the system.
0. What kind of political change does the FDC want?
A. We reject a simple palace revolution. We want a change that leads to true democracy for the population, the end to the single-party system. The opposition is still disunited and this is the thrust of our battle for an alternative. We think that the mercenaries could not keep their businesses in the Comoros if such a change took place, nor Abdallah his importexport monopoly. One of the economic priorities must be to significantly raise the living standards of the population.
Regarding Mayotte, we should recall that the referendum planned for December 1984 did not take place before the French government adopted a new law on the status of the island. The government justifies its refusal to reintegrate Mayotte into the archipelago on the basis of the lack of freedoms in the Federal Republic, although the French government itself accommodates to it without problem.
Q. What are your aims in terms of foreign policy?
A. The FDC is for nonalignment. Concerning relations with France, the FDC hopes that they continue, but on a healthy basis, while exercising our full sovereignty. Far from being anti- French, we support the just struggles carried out by the French people, and we take inspiration from their rich revolutionary traditions. September 9, 1985