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Comoros

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Presentation

Comoros is an archipelago in the southwestern Indian Ocean, 400 km northwest of the island of Madagascar and 300 km from the African coast, at the entrance to the Mozambique Channel.  The archipelago comprises four islands, all located between 30 and 40 km apart: Grande-Comore (Ngazidja), Mohéli (Mwali), Anjouan (Ndzuwani) and Mayotte. The archipelago stretches 250 km from east to west (Mayotte, Anjouan, Mohéli and Grande-Comore) and has a large number of islets 300 km off the coast of East Africa. It is on the island of Grande-Comore that the capital, Moroni, is located. Mayotte is not part of the Comoros, as it has remained French and has become an overseas territorial collectivity.
The official name of the country, since 2002, is the Union of the Comoros (in French) or Udzima wa Komori (in Comorian). The island of Grande-Comore in the north-west has a surface area of 1148 km², compared to 424 km² for Anjouan and 290 km² for Mohéli. The entire archipelago covers 1862 km², which is the equivalent of Mauritius or the area covering two thirds of the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg.

The economic situation of the Comoros remains very precarious. The country belongs to the category of Least Developed Countries (LDCs), with 45% of the population living below the poverty line, and Comoros ranks 160th out of 188 on the Human Development Index. The incidence of poverty varies considerably between islands and is generally higher in rural areas and in Anjouan. The Union of the Comoros became a member of La Francophonie in 1977 and a member of the League of Arab States in 1993.

The Union of the Comoros is a federal republic with a largely decentralised multi-party presidential system; it is a federation of 3 islands. The President of the Union is both head of state and head of government. While executive power is vested in the government, federal legislative power is shared between the government and Parliament; the latter consists of a single chamber of 33 members, 18 of whom are elected in single-seat constituencies, and 15 representatives of regional assemblies elected by indirect suffrage. The Grande-Comore Assembly has 20 members, but the Anjouan Assembly has 25 members and the Moheli Assembly has 10 members. Since independence, the presence of an authoritarian regime continues to undermine the democratic process.

 

 

 

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