Comoros President Azali Assoumani chaired a government cabinet meeting on Thursday, marking his first public appearance since being injured in a knife attack last week, as shown in government footage.
In the video, Assoumani is seen with a thick bandage on the left side of his forehead, smiling as he arrived at the presidential compound in his car.
He greeted advisors and ministers before taking his seat at the end of the cabinet table, where he reviewed documents.
AFP correspondents spotted the president’s motorcade entering the compound, although reporters were not permitted inside.
The 65-year-old president had not been seen since September 13, when he was injured by a young soldier during a funeral for a religious leader in Salimani-Itsandra, just outside the capital, Moroni.
The government stated that his injuries were “not serious” and that he was doing well.
However, his absence from the Mawlid religious celebrations in Moroni, a significant event in the predominantly Muslim nation of about 870,000 people, raised concerns.
One of Assoumani’s advisors and a diplomat, speaking to AFP on condition of anonymity, revealed that the president had cancelled his participation in the upcoming UN General Assembly, which begins in New York on September 22—a rare move for him.
“I can assure you that he is doing very well physically and mentally. It’s the bandage on his head that’s bothering him… aesthetically,” Msaidie Houmed, Assoumani’s political adviser, told AFP on Wednesday when asked about the reasons for his absence.
“It’s the same Azali we had before” he was the victim of an attack, he said.
More details about the president’s injuries were not previously disclosed by the government, with the official statement only mentioning that he required “stitches to his scalp”.
A witness to the attack, who declined to give his name, told AFP: “The assailant was like a madman, he threw himself at the head of state”, who was on a terrace in the home of the deceased religious leader.
“He first attacked him with a knife before beating him up,” he said.
“Without the person who intervened, I strongly believe that the head of state would not have escaped.”
The day after the attack, Public Prosecutor Ali Mohamed Djounaid announced that the 24-year-old soldier, who had been arrested shortly after the incident, was found dead in prison the following morning under unclear circumstances.
Two investigations have been initiated: one into the attack on the president and another into the soldier’s death, according to the prosecutor. He noted that the body had been promptly returned to the family, implying that the public prosecutor’s office had not requested an autopsy.
In line with Muslim tradition, the attacker was buried just a few hours later.
