Qualla: 2008 Invasion of Anjouan

2008 Invasion of Anjouan: Introduction

Tue, 24 Mar 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Before the telephone lines were cut on the night of March 24, 2008, an Anjouan government spokesperson managed one last defiant statement to the outside world: "They have decided to kill but we are not afraid. We are well prepared. Our forces are ready and it's going to work!" By dawn, the island's capital, airport, seaport, and second city had all fallen. The Comoros -- a nation that had already endured more than 20 coups since independence -- had just mounted its own invasion, backed by an unlikely coalition of African Union forces, to reclaim one of its own islands from a colonel who refused to leave power.

Read more: 2008 Invasion of Anjouan on Qualla

2008 Invasion of Anjouan: The Colonel Who Printed His Own Ballots

Tue, 24 Mar 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Mohamed Bacar was a military officer who had seized control of Anjouan, one of three islands in the Comoros archipelago. When the federal government delayed elections on Anjouan due to alleged irregularities and voter intimidation, Bacar took matters into his own hands: he printe...

Read more: 2008 Invasion of Anjouan on Qualla

2008 Invasion of Anjouan: Assembling on Moheli

Tue, 24 Mar 2026 00:00:00 GMT

In March 2008, the invasion force gathered on Moheli, the small island nearest to Anjouan. Hundreds of Comoran government troops assembled alongside African Union contingents: 750 soldiers from Sudan and Senegal, with 500 Tanzanian troops expected soon after. Libya provided logis...

Read more: 2008 Invasion of Anjouan on Qualla

2008 Invasion of Anjouan: A French Helicopter in the Wrong Place

Tue, 24 Mar 2026 00:00:00 GMT

France's role became murkier on March 19, when a French police helicopter from nearby Mayotte -- a Comoran island still under French administration -- crashed into the sea near the city of Sima on Anjouan. The helicopter was on what officials called an unauthorized, clandestine m...

Read more: 2008 Invasion of Anjouan on Qualla

2008 Invasion of Anjouan: Dawn Assault

Tue, 24 Mar 2026 00:00:00 GMT

On the morning of March 24, five boats carrying approximately 1,500 AU soldiers departed from Fomboni, Moheli's capital. The runway at Ouani Airport near the Anjouan capital of Mutsamudu had been blocked with baggage trolleys. At dawn on March 25, about 450 troops landed on the n...

Read more: 2008 Invasion of Anjouan on Qualla

2008 Invasion of Anjouan: Escape to Mayotte

Tue, 24 Mar 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Bacar fled Anjouan by speedboat on March 26, reaching Mayotte, where he requested political asylum from France. The irony was acute: the man accused of tearing the Comoros apart sought refuge on the one Comoran island that France had never let go. He was moved to Reunion, charged...

Read more: 2008 Invasion of Anjouan on Qualla