The island of Moheli in the Comoros has the right to object to the prolongation of President Mohamed Abdallah Sambi's mandate in the archipelago's Supreme Court, a senior African Union (AU) official said on Saturday, Reuters reported. The extension -- approved in a referendum in 2009 and ratified by legislators last month -- is meant to align local and federal elections. But critics accuse Sambi of clinging to power and weakening the autonomy of Comoros' three islands. "Moheli has the right to go the Supreme Court and no one can contest this right," AU Peace and Security Commissioner Ramtane Lamamra told reporters in the Comoros capital Moheli on Saturday. Political tensions have been running high across the archipelago since lawmakers endorsed the constitutional change and extra troops have been sent to Moheli to quell bouts of unrest. Many Moheli islanders feel they have been robbed of the presidency, which rotates between the islands and had been due to be handed to Moheli in May 2010. The Indian Ocean archipelago, sandwiched between Mozambique and Madagascar, has a history of political turmoil and coups since it won independence from France in 1975. Lamamra said Sambi would hold talks with leaders from each island soon. In early 2008, AU troops backed an assault on the Comoros island of Anjouan to unseat the island's self-declared rebel leader Mohamed Bacar. "What is important is that we settle on a timeframe agreed by all for a handover to Moheli before the end of 2010 and not Nov. 27, 2011, as the law now says," said senior opposition politician Houmed Msaidie. Sambi's administration has said the constitutional reform does not call into question the principle of a rotating presidency, just the timing. -- SPA
