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Ali Soilih | |
|---|---|
علي صويلح | |
 Soilih in 1976 | |
| President of Comoros | |
| In office 3 January 1976 – 13 May 1978 | |
| Vice President | Mohamed Hassan Ali[1] |
| Preceded by | Said Mohamed Jaffar |
| Succeeded by | Said Atthoumani |
| Personal details | |
| Born | Ali Soilih M'Tsashiwa 7 January 1937 |
| Died | 29 May 1978(1978-05-29) (aged 41) Moroni, Comoros |
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Ali Soilih M'Tsashiwa (Arabic:علي صويلح; January 7, 1937 – May 29, 1978) was aComoriansocialist revolutionary and political figure who served as the thirdPresident of the Comoros from 3 January 1976 to 13 May 1978.
Soilih was born inMajunga,Madagascar on 7 January 1937.[2] He spent much of his early life there, and was educated in Madagascar andFrance. During the early 1960s, he traveled to Comoros, where he worked in agriculture and economic development.
In 1967, Ali Soilih was elected to theNational Assembly.[2] In 1970, Ali Soilih entered politics as a supporter ofSaid Ibrahim, leader of the Democratic Assembly of the Comoran People,Rassemblement démocratique du Peuple Comorien (RDPC).[3] He was appointed minister of equipment and tourism.[2] He soon developed an ideology of hostility towards France as theformer colonial power. His ideas weresocialist, and he renounced his Islamic faith and became anatheist.[4]
On August 3, 1975, less than a month after Comoros gained independence from France, Soilih overthrew PresidentAhmed Abdallah and became head of a revolutionary council that took over Comoros. Soilih, whose adherents were barely armed, hired French mercenaryBob Denard to perform that task. He officially became President of the revolutionary council in January 1976 replacingSaid Mohamed Jaffar. He acquired extensive powers under the terms of a new constitution[5] and implemented socialist economic policies. In 1977 heheld a referendum on his presidency, with 56.63% of voters endorsing it.
Soilih embarked on a revolutionary program that was mainly directed against the country's traditional Muslim society.[6] His vision, based on a mixture ofMaoism andIslamic philosophies, was to develop the Comoros as aneconomically self-sufficient and ideologicallyprogressive modern 20th-century state.[4]
Condemned as wasteful and cumbersome, certain inherited customs of Comorian culture were abolished, like the 'Anda', the traditional "grand marriage",[7] as well as traditionalfunerary ceremonies, which were criticized for being too costly. Soilih advanced the cause of the youth by allowing young people to take more power. In order to reach his goal, he lowered the voting age to fourteen and put teenagers in positions of responsibility. Among the most striking of his reforms were measures designed to gain the favor of the youth, like the legalization ofcannabis and promoting the removal of theveil among the women of Comoros.[8]
Soilih created the 'Moissy', a young revolutionary militia trained byTanzanian military advisers.[6] The Moissy was a Comorian version ofMao Zedong'sRed Guards, and its methods were similar to those that had been employed by their Chinese counterpart during theCultural Revolution.[9][10]
Soilih's confrontational policies led to France terminating all aid and technical assistance programs to the Comoros, while traditional leaders of the islands resented the progressive elimination of age-old traditions. The teenage Moissy, commanded by a 15-year-old chosen only for his loyalty to the president, behaved with outrageous arrogance, raping any women who resisted their advances and killing anyone who questioned their authority in the slightest. Hence, they were viewed by Comorians as a repressive force.[11] Growing discontent promoted by the political opposition resulted in four unsuccessful coup attempts against the Soilih regime during its two-and-a-half-year existence.[6]
On May 13, 1978, Soilih was finallyoverthrown by a force of 50 mercenaries, the majority of them former French paratroopers hired by exiled former leaderAhmed Abdallah and led by French ColonelBob Denard.[12] Abdallah became president, Soilih's policies were reversed, and the name of the country was changed to "Islamic Federal Republic of the Comoros".[13] On May 29, Soilih was shot and killed; according to the government, he had attempted to escape from house arrest.[14] He was 41 years old when he died.
More than 10 years later, in 1989, Soilih's older half-brother,Said Mohamed Djohar, overthrew Abdallah, possibly with the help of Denard. He served as president of the Comoros until 1996.
The effects of the social policies of Ali Soilih are still apparent throughout the Comoros, particularly onAnjouan.[15][vague]
| Political offices | ||
|---|---|---|
| Preceded by | President of the Comoros 1976-1978 | Succeeded by |
(i) interim |
| International | |
|---|---|
| National | |
| Other | |
