[1] In 1985 Madagascar, Mauritius, and Seychelles agreed to admit Comoros as the fourth member of the Indian Ocean Commission (IOC), an organization established in 1982 to encourage regional cooperation.
[1] Comoros thus cultivated relations with various nations, both East and West, seeking to increase trade and obtain financial assistance.
[1] Comoros also confronted domestically the problem of the degree of democracy the government was prepared to grant to its citizens, a consideration that related to its standing in the world community.
Together with the Chinese defense minister Liang Guanglie, and Chief of Staff of the Comoros armed forces Salimou Mohamed Amiri, pledged to increase cooperation between the military of the two nations.
[102] A comprehensive Chinese-assisted treatment campaign has apparently eliminated malaria from the Comorian island of Moheli (population 36,000).
Visitors to Moheli are now required to take antimalarial drugs, a mix of artemisinin, primaquine and pyrimethamine that China provides for free.
Comoros has requested a similar program for Grande Comore and Anjouan, total population 760,000, and Li said that Beijing has agreed in principle.
[1] The three years of estrangement following the unilateral declaration of independence and the nationalistic Soilih regime were followed during the conservative Abdallah and Djohar regimes by a period of growing trade, aid, cultural, and defense links between the former colony and France, punctuated by frequent visits to Paris by the head of state and occasional visits by the French president to Moroni.
[1] The leading military power in the region, France has detachments on Mahoré and Réunion, and its Indian Ocean fleet sails the waters around the islands.
[1] France and Comoros signed a mutual security treaty in 1978; following the mercenary coup against Abdallah in 1989, French troops restored order and took responsibility for reorganizing and training the Comorian army.
[1] The historic under-commitment by the US within France's sphere of interest in the Indian Ocean looks set to continue after a November 2009 meeting between heads of state.