Operation Azalee - Azalee

Azalee

Making landfall at 23:00 on the 3rd of October, the GIGN immediately sought to overawe the mercenary-dissident alliance. The specialist operators had little trouble in taking both airports, the French embassy and Vulcain, capturing many Denard supporters. Denard was outmanned, outgunned and outmechanised by the invaders. Although small defending forces had managed to repel attackers in the past (e.g. Rorke's Drift), this would usually involve some specific advantage in intelligence, training or guerilla tactics. Knowing he had no such advantage, Denard sent the message to the men defending the barracks that they should lay down their arms if engaged by the French. The specialists encircled the barracks in the early hours of the 5th of October, and Denard was arrested at 03:00 and flown to a Parisian jail. President Djohar, who was held captive in the barracks, was flown to Réunion for medical treatment.

This would be the last of four Denard coups in the Comoros, although another coup would occur on the day Denard went to trial. Since independence in 1975, the Comoros has been subject to over 20 attempts to overthrow the government. This one was only a partial failure in all of the objectives-+Djohar was refused re-entry into the Comoros until the 1996 elections, which he lost.

Four Comorians died during Azalee, nine people were wounded.