By Joseph Edegbo
As representative of African Union (AU) visits Comoros Tuesday, Opposition alliance is asking the Union to ensure meeting with all parties affected by current constitutional crisis in the country to end the political impasse.
The Juwa Party spokesperson, Aboubakar Aboud, said the party had reached out to the AU urging them to help resolve the situation in the country. “We had written to the AU President urging him to send representatives to the Comoros as our country is slipping into a dictatorship.”
President Azali Assoumani had in July conducted a referendum extending presidential term limits and ending a system of rotating power among the archipelago’s three main islands. This led to crackdown on opposition parties, civil society organisations and the media, who opposed the move – former leader Ahmed Abdallah Sambi is currently under house arrest.
According to opposition, during the referendum the citizens largely shunned voting. East African Standby Force (EASF) observers, on their part, estimated participation rate at 21%. Journalists on ground have repeated the now famous comment of “empty polling stations and full ballot boxes”, to qualify this masquerade.
“Though we are glad to see that AU representatives are visiting Comoros, we are concerned that they have not responded to our request to meet all parties affected by the situation in Comoros since the referendum to discuss a peaceful and stable way forward,” Aboud said.
In a statement made available to AFRICA PRIME NEWS on Monday, the Juwa Party said, “any visit or dialogue would be an impotent and ineffective exercise if it doesn’t insist that the government follow the Fomboni Framework Agreements.”
AU had said that a meeting in Beijing between the AU President and President Azali provided an opportunity to review the situation in the Comoros, in light of the constitutional referendum held in late July 2018 and subsequent developments.
Juwa spokesman said, President Azali is heading for a power grab and he is arresting opposition leaders and civil society members on a regular basis. “I talked to Maître Mahamoudou, President Sambi’s lawyer earlier today. He told me that he was once again not allowed to see and talk with his client without the presence of a police officer. President Sambi has not been allowed to see a doctor either! The African Union has to be appraised of the way opposition leaders, media and civil society are being treated.”
“In fact, just this weekend, the government has issued an international arrest warrant against Vice President Djaffar Ahmed Said – who had publicly opposed the referendum – for ‘acts of attack and conspiracy against the State’. This follows the arrest of Ahmed Hassane El Barwane, the general secretary of Juwa Party, Dr. Ahmed Abdou Chakour, spokesman for the party and Milano Henri Alphonse, treasurer of the party and of course former President Sambi.
https://www.africaprimenews.com/2018/08/21/world/former-comoros-leader-charged-with-graft-in-connection-with-passports-scheme/
