Cape Town — An African Union ministerial delegation has flown on a mission to the Comores to demand that the authorities on the island of Anjouan hold new free and fair presidential elections.

The delegation, headed by South African foreign minister Nkosazana Dlamini Zuma, held meetings at the weekend with both the central government of the Comores and the local government of Anjouan.

The delegation, which also comprised representatives from Tanzania, Mozambique, Mauritius, Seychelles, Kenya and Madagascar, travelled to the capital, Moroni, following a meeting in Cape Town last week at which an AU ministerial committee issued an ultimatum demanding that the Anjouanese authorities "unambiguously acknowledge" that an election they held on June 10 was "null and void."

Colonel Mohamed Bacar, Anjouan's former president, defied a decree from the central government postponing the elections, went ahead with the poll and was installed as president of the island. The Comoros' Constitutional Court subsequently declared his election invalid.

In a statement issued by the South African foreign ministry in Pretoria today, the ministerial delegation said: "The mission demands [that] the authorities of Anjouan…hold a free and fair Presidential election in compliance with the African Union security plan."

It also reiterated its demands of last week that Anjouan allow the African Union Electoral and Security Assistance Mission to the Comoros (MAES) to deploy on the island to provide security for an election, and that it cooperate with MAES in plans to disarm the Anjouanese gendarmerie and integrate its members into the Comorian army.