State of the Comoros

{{refimprove|date=August 2024}} {{Infobox country | demonym = Comorian | conventional_long_name = State of the Comoros | native_name = {{ubl|{{native name|fr|État comorien}}}}  | common_name = Comoros | image_flag = File:Flag of the Comoros (1963–1975).svg | image_flag2 = Flag of the Comoros (1975–1978).svg | flag_type = Top: Flag (1975) Bottom: Flag (1975–1978) | image_map = File:Comoros (orthographic projection).svg | map_caption = Location of the Comoros (circled) | national_anthem = ''Ungwana''{{nbsp|2}}(Comorian) ''Liberty'' | capital = Moroni | official_languages = French, Comorian, Arabic | religion = State atheism | life_span = 1975–1978 | government_type = Federal communist state<ref>[http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/country_profiles/1070770.stm BBC - Country profiles; Timeline: Comoros]</ref> under a dictatorship | title_leader = President | year_leader1 = 1975 | leader1 = Ahmed Abdallah | year_leader2 = 1975–1976 | leader2 = Said Mohamed Jaffar | year_leader3 = 1976–1978 | leader3 = Ali Soilih | year_leader4 = 1978 | leader4 = Said Atthoumani | representative1 = Mohamed Hassanaly | event_start = Establishment of the State of the Comoros | date_start = 6 July 1975 | year_representative1 = 1976–1978 | title_representative = Vice President | event_end = Disestablishment of the State of the Comoros | date_end = 23 May 1978 | p1 = Territory of the Comoros | s1 = Federal Islamic Republic of the Comoros | flag_p1 = Flag of the Comoros (1963–1975).svg | flag_s1 = Flag of the Comoros (1978–1992).svg | image_coat = file:Seal of the Comoros (1975-1978).svg | today = Comoros }} {{short description|Period of Comorian History from 1975 to 1978}} '''Socialist Comoros''', officially the '''State of the Comoros''', was a communist state between 1975 and 1978 under the rule of the Democratic Rally of the Comorian People. This period began on August 3, 1975, less than a month after Comoros gained independence from France, when Soilih and Said Mohamed Jaffar, whose adherents were barely armed, hired French mercenary Bob Denard to overthrow Ahmed Abdallah. Soilih officially became President of the revolutionary council in January 1976. He acquired extensive powers under the terms of a new constitution<ref>''The Europa World Year Book'', V1 Taylor & Francis Group</ref> and implemented socialist economic policies. This period would formally come to an end when Soilih was ousted and killed in a coup by French mercenaries, which reinstalled the former President Ahmed Abdallah.

==History== ===Overthrow of Abdallah=== On 3 August 1975 the United National Front coalition overthrew the government of Ahmed Abdallah, with the aid of foreign mercenaries<ref>[http://www.country-data.com/cgi-bin/query/r-3393.html LOC - Comoros, The Break with France]</ref> led by Bob Denard.<ref>[http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/country_profiles/1070770.stm BBC - Country profiles; Timeline: Comoros]</ref>

Said Mohamed Jaffar favored a conciliatory approach towards France and the Mayotte issue. On the occasion of the acceptance of the State of Comoros ''(État comorien)'' at the United Nations in November 1975 Said Mohamed Jaffar delivered a speech. In January 1976 Jaffar gave up power to radical leftist leader Ali Soilih.

===Soilih's dictatorship=== After rising to power in 1976, Soilih embarked on a revolutionary program that was mainly directed against the country's traditional and conservative Muslim society.<ref name="Comoros: Security Concerns">[http://www.country-data.com/cgi-bin/query/r-3441.html "Comoros: Security Concerns"]. Country Data. Retrieved May 23, 2013.</ref> His vision, based on a mixture of Maoism and Islamic philosophies, was to develop the Comoros as an economically self-sufficient and ideologically progressive modern 20th-century state.{{cn|date=August 2024}}

Condemned as wasteful backwards and cumbersome, certain inherited customs of Comorian culture were abolished, like the 'Anda', the traditional "grand marriage",<ref>{{YouTube|lErI7dpWDIc|"Le Anda, Grand Mariage comorien sous Ali Soilih"}} {{in lang|fr}}. YouTube. September 14, 2008.</ref> as well as traditional funerary ceremonies, which were criticized for being too costly. Soilih advanced the cause of the youth by allowing young people to take more power. In order to reach his goal, he lowered the voting age to fourteen and put teenagers in positions of responsibility. Among the most striking of his reforms were measures designed to gain the favor of the youth, like the legalization of cannabis and promoting the removal of the veil among the women of Comoros.<ref>French, Howard (1997). [https://www.jstor.org/pss/2935448 "The Mercenary Position"] {{subscription required}}. ''Transition'' '''73''': 110-121.</ref> Most civil servants were dismissed and there was a ban on some Islamic customs.{{cn|date=August 2024}} He implemented revolutionary social reforms such as replacing French with Shikomoro, burning down the national archives and nationalizing land.

thumb|Logo of the Moissy or "Jeunesse Révolutionnaire". Soilih created the 'Moissy', a young revolutionary militia trained by Tanzanian military advisers.<ref name="Comoros: Security Concerns"/> The Moissy was the Comorian answer to Mao Zedong's Red Guards, and its methods were similar to those that had been employed by their Chinese counterpart during the Cultural Revolution.<ref>[http://www.country-data.com/cgi-bin/query/r-3394.html "Comoros: The Soilih Regime"]. Country Data. Retrieved May 23, 2013.</ref><ref>[http://www.al-hakawati.net/english/states/comoros.asp "Union of Comoros"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120403053203/http://www.al-hakawati.net/english/states/comoros.asp |date=2012-04-03 }}. Al-Hakawati. Retrieved May 23, 2013.</ref> ===Consequences=== Soilih's confrontational policies led to France breaking ties and terminating all aid and technical assistance programs to the Comoros, while traditional leaders of the islands resented the progressive elimination of age-old traditions, all this would lead the Comoros into becoming a pariah state. Growing discontent promoted by the political opposition resulted in four unsuccessful coup attempts against the Soilih regime during its two-and-a-half-year existence.<ref name="Comoros: Security Concerns"/>

==1978 overthrow and killing of Soilih== {{Main|1978 Comorian coup d'état}} {{Anchor|Coup d'état}}On 13 May 1978, Bob Denard, once again commissioned by the French intelligence service (SDECE), returned to overthrow Soilih and reinstate Abdallah with the support of the French, Rhodesian and South African governments.<ref name="Mukonoweshuro:555-577">{{cite journal |title=The Politics of Squalor and Dependency: Chronic Political Instability and Economic Collapse in the Comoro Islands |author=Eliphas G. Mukonoweshuro |journal=African Affairs |volume=89 |issue=357 |date=October 1990 |pages=555–577 |jstor=722174 |doi=10.1093/oxfordjournals.afraf.a098331}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |title=The Rhodesian War: A Military History |last1=Moorcraft |first1=Paul L.|author-link1=Paul Moorcraft |last2=McLaughlin |first2=Peter|author-link2=Peter McLaughlin |date=April 2008|orig-year=1982 |place=Barnsley |publisher=Pen and Sword Books |isbn=978-1-84415-694-8 |pages=120–121}}</ref> Soilih was overthrown by a force of 50 mercenaries, the majority of them former French paratroopers hired by exiled former leader Ahmed Abdallah and led by French Colonel Bob Denard.<ref>[http://www.country-data.com/cgi-bin/query/r-3394.html Comoros - The Soilih Regime]</ref> Abdallah became president ending Soilih's 2 year rule, Soilih's policies were reversed, and the name of the country was changed to "Islamic Federal Republic of the Comoros".<ref>Lehtinen, Terhi. [http://www.conflicttransform.net/Comoros.pdf "The Secessionist Crisis in the Comoros Islands"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110723052303/http://www.conflicttransform.net/Comoros.pdf |date=2011-07-23 }}. Conflict Transformation Services. Retrieved May 23, 2013.</ref> On May 29, Soilih was shot and killed; according to the government, he had attempted to escape from house arrest.<ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1978/05/30/archives/excomoro-island-chief-reported-shot-to-death-while-trying-to-escape.html |title=Ex-Comoro Island Chief Reported Shot to Death While Trying to Escape |work=The New York Times |date=May 29, 1978}} {{subscription required}}</ref> Soilih died at the age of 41 years old.

==Foreign policy== Soilih, in addition to implementing radical reforms, established close connections with many of the Cold War states which aided revolutionary movements. Among these were North Korea, which established an embassy in the Comoros within a year. On 18 January 1977, the first ambassador So Jinyong presented his credentials to Vice President Mohamed Hassan Ali, and made a visit to President Soilih. On 15 March 1978, the North Korean ambassador presented a gift from Kim Il Sung to President Soilih, in response to which the Comoros expressed its "full support and firm solidarity with the Korean people's struggle" to achieve an independent and peaceful Korean reunification.<ref>{{cite book |author= |title=Summary of World Broadcasts: Far East, Part 3 |location=London |publisher=British Broadcasting Corporation |date=1978}}</ref>

Soilih's Moissy militia and other armed forces received training from the left-wing Tanzanian regime of Julius Nyerere, the Moissy also received some degree of aid from the North Koreans.<ref>{{cite book |editor-last=Bunge |editor-first=Frederica M.|date=1982 |title=Indian Ocean, five island countries |publisher=United States Department of the Army |page=179}}</ref>

Soilih's Comoros would also receive support from Egypt, Iraq, and the Sudan.<ref name=":3" />

==Legacy== 10 years later, in 1989, Soilih's older half-brother, Said Mohamed Djohar, overthrew Abdallah's Regime, possibly with the help of Denard. He served as president of the Comoros until 1996.

The effects of the social policies of Ali Soilih's dictatorship are still apparent throughout the Comoros, particularly on Anjouan.<ref>Rushby, Kevin (October 1, 2001). [https://www.theguardian.com/theguardian/2001/oct/01/features11.g2 "Another day, another coup"]. ''The Guardian''.</ref>{{vague|date=March 2013}}

==See also== {{Portal|Africa|Socialism|Islam}} *African socialism *Islamic Socialism *List of socialist states

== References == {{reflist}}

Category:Former socialist republics Category:States and territories established in 1975 Category:States and territories disestablished in 1978 Category:1970s in the Comoros Category:Socialism in the Comoros Category:Communist states

State of the Comoros

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