Yearbook 2011
Comoros. According to Countryaah official site, the island of Mayotte, which is geographically part of the Comoros archipelago, belongs to France since 31 March when the island became France’s 101st department. When the former colony of the Comoros became independent from France in 1975, Mayotte chose to stand outside the new state formation, which was never accepted by either the Comoros or the African Union (AU). The population of Mayotte has voted in various referendums to further approach France. The Comoros tried in vain to stop the last referendum in 2009 and also protested that Mayotte eventually became a French ministry. Outgoing President Ahmed Abdallah Sambi spoke in terms of the “French occupation of Mayotte” and announced that the government would turn to an international court to get the island back, which he believes is an obvious part of the Comoros. Visit ABBREVIATIONFINDER for the acronym of COM that stands for the country of Comoros.
Ikililou Dhoinine, who won the presidential election in December 2010, was installed as president in May. Dhoinine was Vice President under former President Sambi and is close to him politically.