But I could be wrong... ;0)
The Comoros Islands are located between the north tip of Madagascar and northern Mozambique.
They are comprised of 4 major islands with a total land area of 719 square miles.
The population is 300,000 and the main languages are Arabic, French and Swahili.
The major religion is Islam.
NEW YORK - Federal authorities charged on Thursday that the bombing of the U.S. Embassy in Kenya last month was orchestrated by an Islamic extremist from the island nation of Comoros who reported directly to Osama bin Laden , the Saudi exile who is the focus of the worldwide inquiry.[snip]
Broadening the case against bin Laden 's organization, the government offered a $2 million reward for information leading to the arrest of Haroun Fazil, who has been eluding authorities since a warrant was issued for his arrest late last month.
[snip]
Schiliro would not say where the authorities believe Fazil has fled, or how he may have left the Comoros islands, which are in the Indian Ocean southeast of Tanzania and Kenya. Earlier this month, the FBI and the Comoros police raided two homes in the Comoros capital city of Moroni, looking for Fazil, and also questioned his wife.
The authorities described Fazil as an explosives expert in his mid-20s who speaks fluent French, Swahili, Arabic and English, and is adept with computers.
Although the federal complaint did not describe precisely Fazil's rank in bin Laden 's organization, it suggested that his role in the Nairobi attack was more significant than any of the three other defendants who have been arrested and are being held in Manhattan.
The federal complaint said that Fazil's duties in the terrorist organization included the preparation of various reports for bin Laden and his top lieutenants. In the Kenyan bombing, Fazil was accused of renting the room in the Hilltop Hotel in Nairobi where investigators believe that the bomb was constructed, and of hiring two people to clean the room after the attack.
On the day of the attack, the government said, Fazil drove a white pickup that led another vehicle, which was carrying the bomb, to the embassy site in Nairobi.
The Comoros: foreign troops unload on the island of Mohéli
Wednesday December 19, 2001 - 5h21 GMT
MORONI, 19 déc (AFP) - foreign troops unloaded Wednesday morning on the island comorienne of Mohéli, and took control of the army, the gendarmerie and the police force, according to testimonys' on the spot, of which that of a former Prime Minister (well Prime Minister), contacted on the telephone.
The attackers launched leaflets affirming that they were "the army of the United States" and that their intervention was related to the fight against terrorism, according to inhabitants' of the capital, Fomboni, of which the former Prime Minister Mohamed Hassanari, contacted on the telephone at the beginning of morning. The communications with Mohéli were then cut.
Military formation, of almost a hundred men, among whom "of the white, of which some masked", unloaded towards 5h30 local (2h30 GMT), according to these testimonys. It took the control of the army, the gendarmerie, the police force and the post office, according to these sources, which do not specify if the unloading gave place to engagements, and if there were victims.
The identity of the troops which unloaded in Mohéli remains dubious, but leaflets of local origin were distributed here two or three weeks to Moroni, the capital of the Comoros, showing the head of the State, colonel Azali Assoumani, to be related to terrorism.
The leaflets which the soldiers distributed explain in substance why this quota is "the army of the United States", and that its intervention is a response to the "attacks from September 11" in New York and Washington.
"Your president collaborates with the terrorists, we are there to protect you", still indicate the leaflets, which invite the population to return the weapons it would have.
The island of Mohéli forms with Large Comore and Anjouan the Islamic federal Republic of the Comoros (RFIC). Anjouan proclaimed its independence unilaterally in 1997.
This military unloading intervenes at one week of the constitutional referendum envisaged in the Comoros on December 23, 2001, with a little more than three months of the presidential election, fixed at March 31, and the shortly after a visit in the archipelago of the secretary-general of the Organization of African Unity (OAU), the Man from the Ivory Coast Amara Essy.
The referendum must submit to Comoriens a project of constitution, envisaging a framework of the federalistic type granting a very broad autonomy the three islands.
The visit of Mr. Essy, who also went to Mohéli and Anjouan, aimed at "encouraging the comoriennes parts to persevere in their efforts for the implementation of the Outline agreement of Fomboni and, therefore, to put a term at the double separatist crisis (Anjouan) and institutional", specifies the text.
The Outline agreement of Fomboni is an agreement of reconciliation which was signed in February 2001 by the three islands of this archipelago of the Indian Ocean.
The election of the future president of the Republic of the Comoros is fixed at next 31 March, according to the calendar established by the Committee of follow-up in charge of the implementation of the Outline agreement of national reconciliation comorienne and which closed its work last Friday.
The OAU must soon deploy a military mission of observation in the Comoros to supervise the collection of the weapons there on the separatist island of Anjouan.
Unidentified troops take control of Comoros
MORONI ( AFP ) -- Troops claiming to be US soldiers landed on the Comoran isle of Moheli early Wednesday, seizing control of the security forces on the island, a former prime minister said by phone.
The invaders announced themselves as "the army of the United States" and said their intervention was linked to the fight against terrorism, said residents of the capital Fomboni, including ex-prime minister Mohamed Hassanari.
Telephone links with the island were cut shortly afterwards.
Around 100 armed men described as "white, some of them masked," disembarked at 5:30 a.m. (0230 GMT). They quickly took control of the army and police services on the island, the sources reported, without saying whether any fighting took place.
The troops distributed tracts saying they were a US army force and that their intervention was linked to the September 11 attacks in New York and Washington. "Your president is collaborating with terrorists, we are here to protect you," the statements read, calling on the local population to surrender their arms.
The identity of the troops remained unclear but a few weeks back locally-produced leaflets were distributed in the Comoran capital Moroni accusing head of state, Colonel Azali Assoumani of having terrorist links.
Moheli is the smallest of the islands in the Comoro archipelago.
A key referendum has been scheduled for December 23 in the Indian Ocean state as part of a reconciliation plan for the islands, which have long been riven by splits and coup attempts.
In the referendum, Comorans will be asked to approve or reject a constitution that gives the country's three islands -- Grande Comore, Anjouan and Moheli -- a greater degree of autonomy.
Anjouan unilaterally declared its independence in 1997.
Between the referendum and a presidential election due in March, a transitional regime is set to govern, to organise a donor conference and to finalise the devolution of powers to the islands.
A hundred armed men take the control of the island of Mohéli
Wednesday December 19, 2001 - 7h15 GMT
MORONI, 19 déc (AFP) - a hundred men armed directed by French man speaking without accent unloaded Wednesday morning on the island comorienne of Mohéli and took the control of the army, of the gendarmerie and of the police force, indicated to the AFP concordant sources.
A sure source with Moroni affirmed with the AFP to have discussed on the telephone with a man who is presented in the form of a head of the armed men, contacted with the seat of the gendarmerie of Fomboni, the "capital" of the island of Mohéli. "It speaks French without accent", ensured this source, under cover of anonymity.
"Of the armed men unloaded this morning on Mohéli", confirmed an officer of the army of the Comoros, from which all the men early had in the morning to gain the great military base of Kandani, to six km in the north of the capital.
The government requisitioned a plane of the private company the Comoros Aviation to take along troops on Mohéli, one learned near the company.
A hundred men armed, white and black men, of which some carrying of the hoods, early unloaded Wednesday morning on Mohéli and took the control of the buildings of the army, of the gendarmerie and of the police force, to the AFP inhabitants contacted on the telephone indicated, including one former Prime Minister, Mohamed Hassanari.
The attackers launched leaflets affirming that they were "the army of the United States" and that their intervention was related to the fight against terrorism, according to inhabitants', information that a spokesman of the Pentagon in Washington refused to comment on.
"Your president collaborates with the terrorists, we are there to protect you", indicates the leaflets, inviting the population to return the weapons, specified these inhabitants. The communications with Mohéli were then cut.
The Comoros became independent of France in 1975. The fourth island of the archipelago, Mayotte, remained French.
The forces of safety in Mohéli count only one small man hundred, divided between the army, the gendarmerie and the police force. The island does not count that only one military base, in Fomboni. Mohéli smallest and is populated of the three islands of the Islamic Federal Republic of the Comoros (RFIC), which also counts Large Comore and Anjouan.
The identity of the troops which unloaded in Mohéli remains dubious, but leaflets of local origin were distributed here two or three weeks to Moroni, the capital of the Comoros, showing the head of the State, colonel Azali Assoumani, to be related to terrorism.
Demmit, I'm going to have to turn over to see if CNN is reporting anything. This is a travesty.
