Reversing the Tide

The Comoro Islands, situated between Mozambique and the island republic of Malagasy, are not only one of the world's least-known places but also one of the poorest. The 290,000 people who inhabit the four islands have a per capita G.N.P. (mostly from vanilla, sisal and copra) of about $100. If France, which acquired the islands in the 19th century, did not provide an annual $35 million, or 80% of the budget, their misery would be absolute rather than conditional. Last week, after a 27-day flirtation with total freedom from France, the Comoros decided to temper independence with a renewal of close ties with their former master.

France was prepared to give the Comoros their independence months ago. But one of the islands, Mayotte (pop. 37,000), which has many Christians, complained that it would be swallowed up by the other three, which are populated by Arabs and blacks. It begged Paris not to abandon it, and the French National Assembly decided that the other three islands could go their way but Mayotte could wave the tricolor just as long as it wanted to. Last month Comoro's Chief Minister Ahmed Abdallah, a Moslem zealot, declared unilateral independence for all the islands, Mayotte included.

French President Valery Giscard d'Estaing accepted the move "with serenity." Not so the islanders, who suddenly saw millions of French francs retreating along with French authority. Last week while Abdallah was away from the capital city of Moroni, the opposition leader and a force of 50 men took over the radio and TV station and caught Abdallah's Territorial Guard totally by surprise. "The mouthings of that man [Abdallah] are henceforth meaningless," declared Comoro's new chief, Prince Said Ibrahim Jaffar, who promised to restore close ties with France within the framework of independence and give Mayotte autonomy inside a Comoro federation. The coup was bloodless, and everybody but Abdallah seemed happy with the reversal of history's usual anticolonial tide.

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