AU invades Anjouan

One of the less publicized military operations was the recent invasion of Anjouan. The island, which is the second largest in Comoros archipelago, had been run as a breakaway state since last year by Col. Mohamed Bacar.

In a somewhat controversial move, South African president Thabo Mbeki opposed it, the African Union approved a plan to invade Anjouan to return it to federal control. A coalition of Sudanese and Tanzanian troops along with Comoroan federal soldiers ejected Bacar, who fled to the nearby French territory of Mayotte (and has since fled again to another French island Réunion).

Some criticized the operation as trying to mask the continental body's inability to deal with far more serious crises in places like Darfur and Somalia. Surely the presence of Sudanese troops in the mission was intended to suck up to the AU.

"The Comoros is an African country and it's part of the responsibility of the AU to resolve the crisis. Just because it's a small country doesn't take anything away from the success of the AU," said Akuei Bona Malwal, an AU spokesman and a representative of... the Sudanese junta.