A man who attacked Comoros President Azali Assoumani with a knife, causing minor injuries, was found dead in prison under unclear circumstances, according to the public prosecutor on Saturday.
The assault occurred Friday afternoon during a funeral for a prominent religious leader in Salimani-Itsandra, near the capital Moroni. Prosecutor Ali Mohamed Djounaid identified the attacker as 24-year-old Ahmed Abdou, a soldier from the same village.
Abdou attacked the president and a relative of the deceased leader with a kitchen knife before being subdued and turned over to investigators. Djounaid reported that Abdou was isolated in a cell to calm down after his arrest and his lifeless body was discovered on the floor the next morning. A doctor pronounced him dead.
The government did not elaborate on the president’s injuries, only stating he required stitches to his scalp. Government spokeswoman Fatima Ahamada confirmed that the 65-year-old Azali was at home with family and “doing very well,” speaking at a press conference attended by nearly the entire government and the governors of two of the Comoros archipelago’s three islands.
Djounaid noted that Abdou was subdued by the president’s security team and handed over to investigators, who did not have time to question him before his death. An inquiry into the motives behind the assassination attempt and the circumstances of Abdou’s death is ongoing, although there is no indication that an autopsy has been performed.
Abdou’s body was returned to his family and buried quickly according to Muslim tradition, as confirmed by a family source. The majority of the Comoros archipelago’s 870,000 residents are Muslim.
Daoudou Abdallah Mohamed, head of the Orange opposition party, described the burial as taking place in a somber atmosphere in front of a large, mostly young crowd, expressing a sense of confusion in the village and calling for clarity regarding Abdou’s death.
Authorities revealed that Abdou had served in the military police for two years and had failed to return to his unit after being granted a 24-hour leave on September 11. A witness at the funeral, who wished to remain anonymous, described Abdou as acting erratically, stating he lunged at the president with a knife and then with his fists. The witness believed that without the intervention of another mourner, the president might not have escaped unharmed.