Second Presidency
Abdallah, (who had been living in exile Paris, France) staged a coup against Soilih in 1978 with the help of mercenary Bob Denard. After Said Atthoumani had served as "Chairman of the Politico-Military Directorate" for ten days, Abdallah and Mohamed Ahmed assumed the titles of "Co-Chairmen of the Politico-Military Directorate." On July 22, their titles were changed to "Co-Chairmen of the Directorate," and on October 3, Abdallah became the lone chair.
On October 25, Abdallah assumed the title of president and remained in office until his death, despite three separate coup attempts against him. In 1982, Abdallah had the UDC and all other parties abolished, and a new party, the Comorian Union for Progress (UCP), was set up. Comoros became a one-party state, with the UCP being the only legal party.
Abdallah was re-elected unopposed in 1984. On November 26, 1989, he was shot dead in his Moroni office during a coup led by Ali Soilih's half-brother, Said Mohamed Djohar. Djohar took control of the country the next day.
Read more about this topic: Ahmed Abdallah
Famous quotes containing the word presidency:
“Some of the offers that have come to me would never have come if I had not been President. That means these people are trying to hire not Calvin Coolidge, but a former President of the United States. I cant make that kind of use of the office.... I cant do anything that might take away from the Presidency any of its dignity, or any of the faith people have in it.”
—Calvin Coolidge (18721933)
“... how often the Presidency has simply meant that a man shall be abused, distrusted, and worked to death while he is filling the great office, and that he should drop into unmerited oblivion when he has left the White House ...”
—M. E. W. Sherwood (18261903)