1985 Edition

Agriculture

food crops — rice, manioc, maize, fruits, vegetables, coconuts, cinnamon, yams; export crops — essential oils for perfumes (mainly ylang-ylang), vanilla, copra, cloves

Airfields

4 total, 4 usable; 4 with permanentsurface runways; 1 with runways 2,440-3,659 m, 3 with runways 1,220-2,439 m

Area

2,171 km2; half the size of Delaware; 4 main islands; 48% cultivated, 29% uncultivated, 16% forest, 7% pasture Water

Branches

presidency; 38-member legislature (Federal Assembly)

Army, Navy, Air Force

Budget

(1982) domestic revenue, $6 million; foreign revenue, $20 million; current expenditures, $10 million; development expenditures, $3 million; extrabudgetary expenditures, $31 million

Capital

Moroni

Civil air

4 major transport aircraft

Coastline

340 km People

Communists

information not available

Elections

Abdallah Abderemane won 1984 presidential election with 99% majority; Federal Assembly elected in March 1982

Electric power

5,000 kW capacity (1984); 5 million kWh produced (1984), 10 kWh per capita

Ethnic divisions

Antalote, Cafre, Makoa, Oimatsaha, Sakalava

Exports

$18 million (f.o.b., 1982); perfume oils, vanilla, copra, cloves

GNP

$107 million (1982), about $330 per capita

Government leader

Ahmed ABDALLAH ABDEREMANE, President (since October 1978)

Highways

1,110 km total; approximately 406 km bituminous, remainder crushed stone or gravel

Imports

$19 million (f.o.b., 1982); rice and other foodstuffs, cement, fuels, chemicals, textiles

Labor force

140,000(1982); 87% agriculture, 3% government; significant unemployment Government

Language

Shaafi Islam (a Swahili dialect), Malagasy, French

Legal system

French and Muslim law in a new consolidated code

Limits of territorial waters (claimed)

12 nm (economic, including fishing, 200 nm)

Literacy

15%

Major industry

perfume distillation

Major trade partners

France, Madagascar, FRG

Member of

AfDB, FAO, G-77, IBRD, IDA, IDB — Islamic Development Bank, IFAD, ILO, IMF, ITU, NAM, OAU, QIC, UN, UNESCO, UPU, WHO, WMO Economy

Military budget

for fiscal year ending 31 December 1981, $2.9 million; about 16% of the central government budget

Military manpower

males 15-49, 104,000; 61,000 fit for military service

Monetary conversion rate

468.75 Communaute Financiere Africaine (CFA) francs=US$l (31 October 1984) Communications

Nationality

noun — Comoran(s); adjective — Comoran

Official name

Federal Islamic Republic of the Comoros

Political party

sole legal political party is Comoran Union for Progress (UCP)

Political subdivisions

the three islands are organized into seven regions

Population

469,000 (July 1985), average annual growth rate 2.9%

Ports

1 major (Mutsamudu on Anjouan Island); 2 minor

Railroads

none

Religion

86% Sunni Muslim, 14% Roman Catholic

Ships

1 landing craft

Suffrage

universal adult

Telecommunications

sparse system of radio-relay and HF radio communication stations for interisland and external communications to Madagascar and Reunion; 1,800 telephones (0.4 per 100 popl.); 2 AM stations, 1 FM station, no TV station Defense Forces

Type

three of the four islands compose an independent republic, following local government's unilateral declaration of independence from France in July 1975; the other island, Mayotte, disallowed declaration and is now a French territorial community but is claimed by the Comoros

Voting strength

UCP holds 37 seats in the Federal Assembly