3 dead in Comoros capital after opposition moves to unseat president

Comoros said its security forces killed at least three gunmen in a shootout at a military base in the Capital Moroni on Thursday after renegade soldiers broke out of prison and the opposition announced a plan to unseat the president.

Shooting could be heard for around an hour near the main military base in the Capital city, hours after opposition presidential candidates announced their plan to unseat President Azali Assoumani.

Interior Minister Mohamed Daoudou said a group of renegade soldiers who had been jailed for plotting a coup last year had escaped from prison in the morning and had gone to the army base hoping to convince other troops to back them.

Fayssoil Abdoussalam, an army major, was among the three who were killed in the shootout, Daoudou said.

Comoros Interior Minister Mohamed Daoudou addresses a press conference in Moroni, March 28, 2019. /CGTN Photo

"Fayssoil tried to rally the troops to his cause, but they didn't join him," said Daoudou, adding that the situation was under control.

Assoumani was declared the winner in Sunday's election with more than 60 percent of the vote, enough to avoid a second-round run-off.

Hours before Thursday's shooting, Assoumani's 12 opponents in the election announced they had set up a body to remove him. Their National Transition Council would be chaired by one of them, former armed forces chief of staff Mohamed Soilihi.

A man casts his ballot for the Comoros presidential election at a polling station in Moroni, March 24, 2019. /VCG Photo

"The mission of the National Transitional Council is to resolve the post-election crisis, to ensure a peaceful transition, to preserve peace, stability and national cohesion in our country," said Soilihi.

In Soilihi's statement, the opposition candidates set an April 3 deadline for the vote to be invalidated. Otherwise they called for civil disobedience and a general strike from April 4.

Assoumani said on Tuesday that anyone wishing to contest the results should do so only via legal means.

As a former army officer who first came to power in a coup in 1999, Assoumani has since been in and out of office, serving as president for 10 of the past 20 years. He won elections in 2002 and 2016.