Assembly/AU/6(XV)
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Continent, as well as other related activities. The following paragraphs hereunder
provide an overview of the situations on the ground, some thematic cross-cutting
issues with implications for peace and security in the Continent.
a)
Situations on the ground
(i)
Ongoing processes
27.
During the review period, efforts geared towards the successful completion of
the different peace processes in the Continent continued. Although progress was
made in some situations with which the AU was seized, impasses persist in others.
28.
In The Comoros, there were positive developments with the signing of the
Agreement for the Management of the Interim Period, which ended the crisis linked
to the institutional reform introduced by the new Constitution of the Union, adopted
by referendum on 17 May 2009. The Referendum Act provided for 4 to 5 years
extension of the mandate of the President of the Union, and conferred on the
Assembly of the Union and the Councils of the Autonomous Islands, meeting in
congress, the constitutional power to set the date for harmonization for the election
of the Governors of the Autonomous Islands and that of the President of the Union.
On 1 March 2010, the Congress enacted a law harmonizing with effect from 27
November 2011, the mandates of the President of the Union and the Governors of
the Islands. That law, which was boycotted by the Comorian opposition, had the
effect mainly of extending the tenure of the President of the Union (which expired on
26 May 2010) by 18 months, and postponing for the same period the exercise of the
rotating presidency of the Union by the Island of Mohéli, after Grande Comore and
Anjouan.
29.
Following an unconstitutionality petition filed by the Comorian opposition, the
Constitutional Court of the Union of the Comoros, on 8 May 2010, made a ruling
which, inter alia, declared unconstitutional and annulled the provisions setting the
date of election of the President of the Union and the Governors of the Islands. The
Court declared that the interim period would commence with effect from 26 May
2010, a period during which the President and the Vice-Presidents of the Union shall
exercise their powers consensually, until the new President of the Union and the
elected Governors take office. For his part, the Chairperson of the Commission
dispatched his Special Envoy to the Comoros, to assist the parties in overcoming the
difficulties they faced in the implementation of the constitutional reform of May 2009.
The Commissioner for Peace and Security also visited the Archipelago on two
occasions, in April and May 2010. These culminated in an Agreement for the
Management of the Interim Period, which was signed in Moroni, on 16 June 2010, by
the President of the Union and the Governors of the Autonomous Islands of Anjouan,
Ngazidja and Mohéli. The Agreement provided essentially for the organization of
harmonized elections for the President of the Union and the Governors of the Islands
(7 November 2010 for the 1st round and 26 December 2010 for the 2nd round). The
conclusion of this process should lead to the election of a new President native of
the Island of Mohéli.