1 killed, dozens injured in Comoros protests following president's re-election

By Andrew Wasike

NAIROBI, Kenya (AA) - Tensions in Comoros escalated Thursday as a 21-year-old man was fatally shot in the head by police during post-election violence.

Dozens of others were admitted to El Maarouf Hospital in the capital Moroni with gunshot wounds.

Djabir Ibrahim, head of the emergency department at the hospital, confirmed the tragic death to reporters.

The latest incident comes at a time when the Ministry of Interior had implemented a nationwide curfew since Wednesday in an attempt to quell the turmoil following disputed election results that granted President Azali Assoumani another term.

Despite the curfew and heavy military and police presence to maintain law and order, protesters have continued to defy the restrictions.

The police reported that the protester who was killed was part of a larger group that had reportedly invaded the home of the minister of telecommunications.

The government's efforts to restore calm after the elections have been met with challenges as protests persist, vehicles have been torched, infrastructure damaged and businesses affected.

In a joint statement, the five opposition candidates urged the entire population to join the protests on Friday, asserting that the elections were neither fair nor free and lacked both democratic principles and transparency.

The controversial polls in the East African country saw Assoumani garner 62.97% of the vote, securing his re-election, according to the Independent National Electoral Commission (CENI).

Assoumani, 65, a former military officer who first came to power in a 1999 coup, has now served two non-consecutive terms as president, from 2002 to 2006 and from 2016 to the present.

The 2018 constitutional referendum that paved the way for his potential re-election was deeply divisive, with critics accusing him of undermining the power-sharing agreement among Comoros' three main islands.