Earlier this year the Comoros Islands, a small archipelago off the coast of Mozambique, expressed interest in entering talks with the Kuwaiti government. The subject? A deal that would grant Comorian citizenship to the stateless Bidoon population of Kuwait and the United Arab Emirates (UAE), in return for aid.
The negotiations have been largely overlooked and even recently denied by the Kuwaiti government. We urgently need clarity about what’s happening: this initiative would both have drastic consequences for stateless people in the UAE and Kuwait, and set a dangerous precedent for vulnerable populations worldwide.
Almost half the Comorian population live in poverty
The Comoros has been struggling both politically and economically for decades.
Since gaining independence from France in 1975, it has experienced 20 coups or attempted coups. It is short on natural resources, heavily reliant on remittances (in Africa, it’s second only to Eritrea) and is reliant on the export of three crops which are vulnerable to price fluctuations and natural disasters. Today it is one of the poorest countries in the world; in 2004, 48% of its 800,000 inhabitants were living under the national poverty line.
Given these issues, Comorian politicians are seeking a quick, lucrative and easy solution. Since 2008, the Comoros government has been in negotiations with the UAE and Kuwait to trade its citizenship for cash.
