Comoros Bob Denard States Conditions for His Departure

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BBC Summary of World Broadcasts

December 15, 1989, Friday

Comoros Bob Denard states conditions for his departure

SECTION: Part 4 The Middle East, Africa and Latin America; 4(B). AFRICA; ME/0640/ ii;

LENGTH: 332 words

(ME/0639 iii) AFP reported on 14th December that Bob Denard had specified that day that he would leave the Comoros on the following conditions that a formal ''handing over'' ceremony involving the French armed forces should be held; that ''all the moral and material investment'' in the Comoros made by the Presidential Guard since 1978 ''should be taken into account'' in the form of compensation; that his mercenaries ''should not be given up to the vengeful population''; that certain of his officers should receive ''severance pay''; that he and his men should not be prosecuted (for their activities in the Comoros) ; and that the press should attend the ''handing over'' ceremony. Radio France Internationale reported on the 14th that ''Bob Denard has received the cheque he was asking for and now he wants the honours''.

It was reported by AFP on the 13th that a meeting that day between interim President Said Mohamed Djohar and opposition leaders - to make preparations for the presidential election - had been postponed until the 15th. The agency also noted that Prince Said Ali Kemal, the grandson of the last Comoran Sultan, who had been in exile in Paris since 1980, would be returning to the Comoros in order to take part in the presidential elections. The prince, who five years ago had formed the opposition Chuma party, the ''party of fraternity and unity of the Comoros'', had said that his participation in the election had been requested by President Djohar.

Reports from Mayotte on 11th December, that Madagascar had banned French military aircraft from overflying its territory, appeared to be the result of ''a misunderstanding'', AFP reported on the 13th, citing the Malagasy Air Transport Department. ''The request to overfly Malagasy territory has been granted,'' the Air Transport Department had said, adding that there had been ''a misunderstanding because civilian flights have been suspended between Madagascar and Moroni since 10th December''.

LANGUAGE: ENGLISH