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MUTSAMUDU, Comoros: African troops on Thursday patrolled the Comoran island of Anjouan after its renegade leader fled to the French Indian Ocean territory of Mayotte, leaving his capital in the hands of the federal authority.
Ousted rebel leader Colonel Mohammed Bacar fled by speedboat and sought asylum on Mayotte on Wednesday, a day after a coalition of 1,400 Comoran federal troops and a mainly-Tanzanian African Union force invaded Anjouan in an operation to reunite the archipelago.
On Thursday, the troops were patrolling the isle, an AFP correspondent reported. They were due to deploy in southern Anjouan, according to Comoran defence minister Mohamed Bacar Dossar.
"Colonel Mohammed Bacar arrived in Mayotte on Wednesday at 3:00 pm local time (1200 GMT) on board a speedboat. There were about a dozen men with him, some of them armed," a source said, speaking on condition of anonymity.
The source said Bacar and men who accompanied him were secure and had asked for political asylum in France.
France's ministry for overseas territories confirmed that the 45-year-old former naval and police officer had arrived on Mayotte, around 60 kilometres (37 miles) from Anjouan, and had requested asylum.
Dossar refused to comment on Bacar's escape but said the country had issued international arrest warrants for the fugitive he accused of "rebellion and torture".
"We informed France of this in case he tried to get to Mayotte, but we got no guarantees. The French ambassador told us they'd be embarrassed if he came, but that they'd have to study any asylum application," Dossar said.
Bacar seized power in Anjouan – one of three islands in the Comoros federation – in 2001 and was confirmed in office by an election in 2002.
In 2007, the French-trained officer staged another election to confirm his re-election, but the vote was rejected as illegal by both the Comoros federal government and the African Union.
Bacar and hundreds of police nevertheless defiantly remained on the island until Tuesday when the Comoran-AU troops invaded to re-establish federal rule.
At least 11 civilians were wounded in clashes that broke out after the invasion force stormed the Anjouan capital Mutsamudu, hospital sources said.
Both Bacar's personal home and the presidential palace were captured after brief skirmishes, along with the key radio station, and on Wednesday they were under the control of the invasion force.
Witnesses said Bacar and his guards had left his residence early on Tuesday and fled into the hills.
The authorities in the federal capital Moroni, on the main island of Grande Comore, assigned federal Vice President Ikililou Dhoinine to head a central government delegation in Anjouan until a transitional government could be put in place, cabinet minister Ali Mmadi said.
"This transitional government will be set up by week's end," government spokesman Abdourahim Said Bakar told AFP, adding that a new cabinet would be announced on Friday.
Mmadi said the transitional government would be headed by Anjouan's appeals court chief, Laili Zamane, and that new elections were slated for May.
The invasion in the coup-prone archipelago was supported by both the former colonial power France – which helped airlift African Union troops to the islands – and the United States.
Tanzanian, Sudanese, and Comoran troops were cheered by local residents when they landed before dawn on Tuesday and there was only light resistance from Bacar's militiamen.
Since winning independence from France in 1975, the Comoros archipelago – whose name comes from the Arabic for "moon" – has never known constitutional stability and has endured 19 coups or coup attempts.
Anjouan, a scattering of villages that are home to 240,000 people, is known mainly as the world's leading exporter of ylang-ylang flowers and a haven for shady offshore banking.
- AFP/so
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