Azali *oumani (Arabic: غزالي عثماني; born 1 January 1959) is a Comorian politician and military officer who has served as President of the Comoros since April 2019. He was also president from 2002 to 2006 and 2016 to February 2019. He became head of state after staging a coup d'état in 1999 and was elected president in 2002, 2016 and April 2019.

Political career

Azali *oumani became the President of the Council of State of the Comoros in 1999 after overthrowing interim president Tadjidine Ben Said M*ounde in a coup d'état. His troops justified the coup on the basis of protecting territorial integrity after M*ounde had begun negotiations with representatives of the island of Anjouan for greater autonomy or independence. This was despite the fact that an international conference in Antananarivo had resulted in a settlement on the matter between the three islands of the Comoros, although the government of Anjouan had delayed rafifying the agreement.

On 23 December 2001, *oumani's new proposed cons*ution was adopted by referendum. The cons*ution established a rotating presidency and granted considerable autonomy to the Comorian islands, each of which gained its own basic law, flag and executive branch of government. It also renamed the country from the Federal Islamic Republic of the Comoros to the Union of the Comoros and redesigned the national flag to remove its religious inscriptions and become multicolour, as can be seen today.

*oumani announced elections for 2002, with violent clashes between state forces and the opposition erupting across the country during the campaign. Reports of arbitrary arrests also emerged. *oumani resigned from his position as President of the Council of State on 21 January 2002 in order to run for President of the Union of the Comoros and was succeeded by Hamada Madi. *oumani was then elected president with 75% of the vote in the multiparty 2002 Comorian presidential election, and was inaugurated on 26 May 2002.

*oumani's presidency was marked by conflicts over jurisdiction and political gridlock due to his refusal to devolve power to the autonomous regions of the Comoros, as mandated by the cons*ution. The latter also required that successive presidents be from different islands, allowing Ahmed Abdallah Mohamed Sambi from Anjouan to succeed him after winning the 2006 presidential election.

*oumani launched a second presidential bid in the 2016 presidential election. In the first round on 21 February, he came third with 14.96% of the vote, before winning the second round with 40.98% of the vote on 10 April. However, both *oumani and his opponent Mohamed Ali Solihi disputed the election result, alleging irregularities and electoral fraud in the second round. *oumani demanded the invalidation of ballots from most of the polling stations on Anjouan in particular. Consequently, a third round of voting took place on 11 May. The Cons*utional Court declared *oumani the winner with 41.43% of the vote on 15 May, and he took office on 26 May for a five-year term. His first vice-president was Djaffar Ahmed Said, the former attorney-general and director of judicial affairs, who was later replaced by Moustadroine Aboudou from Anjouan and then Abdallah Said Sarouma from Mohéli.

During his tenure, the opposition accused *oumani of having amended the cons*ution to remain in power until 2029. In addition, his closing of the Cons*utional Court and Anti-Corruption Court caused the European Union to suspend all cooperation with the Comoros in protest.

On 13 February 2019, *oumani resigned the presidency to campaign for re-election in the 2019 Comorian presidential election on 24 March. He was elected in the first round and *umed office again on 3 April.

Diplomacy

In 2022, *oumani was invited by President Paul Biya of Cameroon to open the 2021 Africa Cup of Nations at Olembe Stadium, Yaoundé.

References