On this page 6 sections
1946: an overseas territory
The law of 9 May 1946 separated the Comoros from Madagascar and gave them administrative and financial autonomy: the archipelago became an overseas territory, with its own assembly. Dr Saïd Mohamed Cheikh was elected deputy to the National Assembly in Paris. A Comorian political elite took shape, which the historian Mahmoud Ibrahime has studied.
Dzaoudzi or Moroni?
On 14 May 1958, the Territorial Assembly voted to move the capital from Dzaoudzi, in Mayotte, to Moroni, on Grande Comore: the 26 members from the three other islands voted in favour, the four Mahoran members against. The move of the services stretched until 1966. In Mayotte, many experienced it as a downgrading.
The birth of the Mahoran movement
On 2 November 1958, Mahoran notables gathered at Tsoundzou, on the initiative of Georges Nahouda, called for the island to become a department. From this “congress of notables” grew a movement that would become the Mahoran People's Movement (MPM), led in particular by Marcel Henry and Younoussa Bamana.
In the 1960s and 1970s, women known as the “chatouilleuses” (“ticklers”), among them Zéna M'Déré, carried out spectacular actions against supporters of independence from the other islands.
Internal autonomy
In 1961, the Comoros obtained internal autonomy. Saïd Mohamed Cheikh chaired the government council from 1962 until his death on 16 March 1970. He was succeeded by Prince Saïd Ibrahim, then Ahmed Abdallah. The governments of this period initially championed autonomy within the French Republic.
Comorian nationalism
At the end of 1962, Comorians living in East Africa founded in Dar es Salaam the MOLINACO (National Liberation Movement of the Comoros). From Tanzania, it took the demand for independence to the Organisation of African Unity and the UN.
In January 1968, a strike by secondary-school pupils in Moroni opened up political debate in the archipelago. Pro-independence parties were legalised and the movement gathered pace after the death of Saïd Mohamed Cheikh.
1973–1975: from the referendum to the proclamation
Agreements signed on 15 June 1973 provided for independence. In the referendum of 22 December 1974, 94.6% of voters in the archipelago chose independence; in Mayotte, 63.8% voted to remain part of France.
The French Parliament then passed the law of 3 July 1975, which provided for the future constitution to be adopted island by island. Seeing this as a manoeuvre to detach Mayotte, the Chamber of Deputies of the Comoros proclaimed independence on 6 July 1975; Ahmed Abdallah became head of state. Mayotte, for its part, remained under French administration. Read: Mayotte: contrasting views.
Main references
- Voices of the archipelago Mahmoud Ibrahime, La naissance de l'élite politique comorienne (1945 – 1975). L'Harmattan.
- Outside view George Roberts, MOLINACO, the Comorian Diaspora, and Decolonisation in East Africa's Indian Ocean, 2021. Journal of African History.
- Outside view République française, Loi n° 75-560 du 3 juillet 1975 relative à l'indépendance du territoire des Comores, 1975. Journal officiel (French official gazette).
- Outside view Malyn Newitt, The Comoro Islands: Struggle against Dependency in the Indian Ocean, 1984. Westview Press.
- Outside view Iain Walker, Islands in a Cosmopolitan Sea: A History of the Comoros, 2019. Hurst (London); Oxford University Press (New York).
