COMOROS: Cost of democracy thwarts development

PORT LOUIS Wednesday, October 22, 2008 (IRIN) - The expense of maintaining democracy in Comoros is proving such a burden that the government is contemplating wholesale changes, possibly fomenting the very divisions its complex governance system was designed to thwart. The three-island state introduced the constitution in 2001 - a direct consequence of the islands of Moheli and Anjouan unilaterally declaring independence in 1997 - in a bid to end the cycle of coups and secession attempts that...