The United States will support any action by the government of Comoros to reunify the Indian Ocean islands, including military force which "now appears necessary", a U.S. envoy said on Friday, according to Reuters. The central government led by President Ahmed Abdallah Mohamed Sambi is preparing an offensive to win back control of Anjouan island whose self-declared leader, Mohamed Bacar, has refused to step down since claiming victory in an illegal election last June. "Given this implacability, the United States will now support any actions taken by President Sambi, AU (African Union) partners, or the international community to restore Comorian unity," U.S. Ambassador Niels Marquardt said in a statement published by the state-owned weekly newspaper, Al-Watwan. The envoy, based in Madagascar, said representatives from the AU, Senegal, France, the Arab League and the United States travelled to Comoros last month to present Bacar with a choice: accept free and fair elections or exile. "Choosing neither option, Colonel Bacar alone must now accept full responsibility for the military conflict that now appears necessary to reunify the Union of the Comoros," Marquardt added. "His illegitimate hold on power and quest for personal gain will likely and unfortunately lead to bloodshed."
