Comoros, 1999 — military coup

Event Summary

On 30 April 1999 Colonel Azali Assoumani, chief of staff of the Comorian armed forces, completed a bloodless two day military takeover that removed interim President Tadjidine Ben Said Massounde. The coup unfolded amid the secession crisis that began in August 1997 when the islands of Anjouan and Moheli unilaterally declared independence from the federal republic, and amid violence in Grande Comore against Anjouanese residents. The military justified its intervention as protecting the country's territorial integrity, accusing Massounde of conceding too much in negotiations with Anjouan representatives over autonomy under the Antananarivo framework.

After seizing power Azali suspended the constitution, dissolved parliament and other institutions, banned political activity and public gatherings, and ordered the ousted interim president and other officials to remain in their homes. On 6 May 1999 he decreed a new constitutional arrangement granting himself executive and legislative powers at the head of a largely military directorate. Azali later won the 2002 presidential election under the new Union of the Comoros constitution and returned to the presidency again in 2016.