However, he was never allowed to take office and Bacar, in defiance of both the Union of Comoros government and the AU, independently organised a presidential election.
The Union government withheld election material from Anjouan to try and prevent the poll from taking place, but Bacar printed his own ballot papers, went ahead with the vote on 10 June and claimed a landslide victory of 90 percent.
Bacar's inauguration ceremony deepened the electoral crisis, making it highly unlikely that the official Anjouan poll, postponed to 17 June, would be held.
The statement urged Bacar to respect the 17 June date for holding Anjouan's official election, and allow it to be supervised by AU troops and monitored by international observers.
During February and March 2008 troops from the Comoros with support from the African Union began massing for an amphibious assault of the island of Anjouan and the termination of the presidency of Mohamed Bacar.
According to Bacar, some of the countries backing military intervention are undemocratic themselves, and it was hypocritical for them to try to "give [Anjouan] lessons in democracy"; he said that an invasion would ultimately solve nothing and that he was ready to fight and die if necessary.
[8] Subsequently, the French moved Bacar to the nearby island of Réunion[8][9] on the night of March 27–28, along with 23 of his supporters who accompanied him when he fled to Mayotte.
Comoran President Ahmed Abdallah Sambi said that if the French objected to extraditing Bacar to Comoros, where the death penalty is allowed, then it could send him to the International Criminal Court in The Hague for trial.
Thousands of Comorans participated in a protest on March 28 to demand that Bacar be extradited; it was widely believed in the Comoros that France secretly worked to protect him.
[8] In its extradition request, the Comoran government accused Bacar of "embezzlement of public funds, homicide, rape, torture and other abuses against the people of Anjouan".
[10] The case against Bacar and his 23 supporters, based on illegal entry and weapons possession, was dismissed by a court in Saint-Denis, Réunion on March 29.
An order (reconduite à la frontière) to expel Bacar and his men back to the Comoros was issued on March 28, but it was subsequently revoked.
Replying to this allegation, French Foreign Ministry spokesman Pascale Andréani said on April 3 that Bacar had managed to flee Anjouan "under unclear circumstances".
On June 5, 2008, Bacar was acquitted on the charge of illegal entry[16] but was given a suspended sentence of three months imprisonment for entering the country with weapons.