African leaders gathered on February 18-19, 2023 for the annual AU summit. At the end of this last Summit, the President of the Union of the Comoros, Azali Assoumani, was elected President-in-Office of the African Union for one year. He succeeds the Senegalese Macky Sall, becoming the first Comorian to take the rotating presidency of the pan-African organization. Reacting to this election, this Monday, February 27, 2023, the president of the Rally for a Development Initiative with an Informed Youth (RIDJA), Me Saïd Larifou, Comorian lawyer and political opponent, affirms that “Everything leads to believe that the election in post of president of the African Union of the despot Azali Assoumani prefigures a hardening of the political regimes”.
In an interview he gave us on Monday, February 27, the president of the Rally for a Development Initiative with an Informed Youth (RIDJA), Me Saïd Larifou, talks about the election of his compatriot at the head of the Union African.
According to him, the election of Colonel Azali Assoumani is a choice by default, since the post should go by right to the President of Kenya.
In his opinion, this designation of the colonel is a very negative message which further tarnishes the image of the African Union.
“It confirms the feeling of the peoples of Africa and observers that our continental institution is deaf and indifferent to the aspirations of Africans for democratic governance respectful of the rule of law,” he said.
What hope could the African Union give to African youth if Colonel Azali Assoumani, previously not admitted to the African Union following his accession to power by a coup, becomes president of our only continental institution while ‘after his controversial return to power the military acting under his command murdered more than 35 people with complete impunity? he wondered.
In his remarks, he recalls that the last most atrocious and cruel assassination committed by the regime of Colonel Azali Assoumani is that of a 24-year-old youth, which occurred on February 26, 2023, after his installation as President of the African Union. a few days earlier.
“The Comorians can thank the African Heads of State for having given a license to kill to Colonel Azali Assoumani and legitimizing all the assassinations committed under his responsibility, the political detentions and the exile of his opponents. Independently of the circumvention of the statutes specific to the African Union where the alternation between the French-speaking, English-speaking and Lusophone countries is de rigueur (three French-speaking presidents in a row) the current presidency of this institution cannot oppose the circumvention of the Constitutions by the executives of certain countries, to the repeal of certain laws relating to freedom of the press and expression, to the muzzling of democratic opposition…”, he said.
According to him, African leaders have still not taken the measure of the awakening and the patriotic and pan-Africanist consciousness of the peoples of Africa, who are increasingly structured and embodied as in the 1960s by talented young people who are entirely and deeply devoted. for the African cause.
From East to West and from South to North, there is, he says, in Africa a convergence of very high patriotic consciences which cannot be called into question or weakened by repression and all forms of deprivation.
“It’s true, we have seen for a few days that certain African Heads of State have taken the liberty of muzzling their opponents through crimes, intimidation, police custody, imprisonment without any real basis. But these acts as cruel as they are, will not overcome the determination and the will of the people of Africa to take their destiny into their own hands,” he declared.
According to him, everything suggests that the election as President of the African Union of the despot Azali Assoumani foreshadows a hardening of political regimes.
“No one can believe that the latter will be able to oppose certain anti-democratic practices, himself being in power following a coup d’etat and his rigged re-election of 2019”, he decided.
As a reminder, the former chief of staff of the army, colonel Azali Assoumani, appeared on the political scene in 1999 thanks to one of the many coups d’etat which agitated the small archipelago of Indian Ocean since its independence from France in 1975.
Presenting himself as a “deep democrat”, he explains at the time that he seized power only to avoid a civil war, in the midst of a separatist crisis with one of the islands of this poor country of around 900,000 inhabitants. But he quickly took a liking to it and performed again in 2002.
He only returned the keys to the country to the civilians in 2006, reluctantly, under a Constitution which established a rotating presidency between the three islands of the Union (Grande-Comore where he was born, Anjouan and Moheli). He then retired to his land and became a farmer.
In 2016, the call is too strong and Azali Assoumani stands for the supreme office. Defying the odds, he won a chaotic and contested ballot. Leaving power “was a mistake” that he will not repeat, he once told a diplomat stationed in the capital Moroni.
Back in the presidential palace, he eliminated all the obstacles in a few months: dissolution of the Constitutional Court, amendment of the Constitution to extend the duration of the rotating presidency from one to two terms, and early election in 2019. The next presidential election will have take place next year and if re-elected, Azali Assoumani will reign until 2029.
By Abdoulaye OUATTARA