Comoros president's attacker found dead in prison: prosecutor

Former coup leader Azali Assoumani addresses supporters at his party's Convention for the Renewal of Comoros (CRC) headquarters in Moroni on January 16, 2024 after he won re-election in the first round of an already disputed presidential vote in the Comoros, dismissing a low turnout and allegations of fraud. Comoros President Azali Assoumani was wounded in an attack Friday, the government spokeswoman said, with two other sources saying he'd been stabbed but only slightly injured. (Photo by OLYMPIA DE MAISMONT / AFP)

(AFP) - A man who attacked Comoros President Azali Assoumani with a knife, wounding him slightly, has been found dead in prison in unclear circumstances, the public prosecutor said on Saturday.

The attack on the president took place on Friday afternoon during a funeral for a well-known religious leader in a village near Moroni.

Prosecutor Ali Mohamed Djounaid said the dead man was a 24-year-old soldier called Ahmed Abdou from the village of Salimani-Itsandra, where the funeral took place.

He had attacked the president and a relative of the late religious leader with a "kitchen knife", the prosecutor said, before being restrained and handed over to investigators.

"He (Abdou) was isolated in a cell so that he could calm down yesterday after his arrest. Investigators found his lifeless body lying on the floor this morning," Djounaid told a press conference Saturday.

"A doctor declared him dead."

"An investigation has been launched to determine the cause of his death," he added.

The government declined to detail the president’s injuries, saying only that he had needed "stitches to his scalp".

Government spokeswoman Fatima Ahamada said Saturday that 65-year-old Assoumani was at home with his family and "doing very well".

She was speaking at a press conference in the presence of nearly the entire government and the governors of two of the Comoros archipelago's three islands.

- Investigation underway -

Djounaid said Abou was overcome by the president's security detail and handed over to investigators but the latter did "not have time to question him" before he died.

"An inquiry is underway into the reasons for the young man's attempt on the president's life.

"There will also be an inquiry into the circumstances of his death," the prosecutor added.

There was no indication that Djounaid's office had requested an autopsy.

The young man's body has been handed over to his family and is to be buried according to Muslim tradition, a family source said on condition of anonymity.

The vast majority of the Comoros archipelago's 870,000 inhabitants are Muslim.

Authorities said Abdou had been in the military police for two years and had failed to return to his unit on September 11 after being given 24 hours' leave.

A witness at the funeral, who asked to remain anonymous, said he had been "like crazy".

"He lunged at the head of state... attacking him first with a knife and then with his fists."

If another mourner had not intervened, "I think the president wouldn't have escaped safely", he said.

© Agence France-Presse