holding Anjouan's official election, and allow it to be supervised by AU troops and monitored by international observers. Since this time the situation had deteriorated markedly and the government of Comoros determined that talks had failed and a military solution was required. During February and March 2008 troops from the Comoros with support from the African Union began massing for an amphibious assault of the island of Anjouan and the termination of the presidency of Mohamed Bacar. Agence France-Presse reported that 'the first batch' of African Union troops arrived in the Comoros Islands on March 20, 2008, while the BBC reported that the first African Union troops arrived on March 11, 2008. In an interview with Agence France-Presse on March 12, 2008, Bacar said that he had "always been open to dialogue" and that there should be a round table to discuss Comoran problems. He said that holding a new election in Anjouan would be acceptable if a round table was in favor of it. According to Bacar, some of the countries backing military intervention are undemocratic themselves, and it was hypocritical for them to try to "give [Anjouan] lessons in democracy"; he said that an invasion would ultimately solve nothing and that he was ready to fight and die if necessary. Removal from office A tense period punctuated by several incidents of military incursions on Anjouan continued from the beginning of March with notable events including an abortive Comoron raid on Domoni in the south of the island, the seizure of two Anjouan soldiers on the coast close to Sima and the crash of a French military helicopter also near Sima. The end came when, in the early hours of March 25, the island was invaded by a combined Comoros and African Union force. The island's capital, airport, seaport and second city were all overrun by dawn to scenes of jubilation from the local population. Early reports indicated that the government of Mohamed Bacar had fled to the interior of the island and were in hiding; however, later reports from the Comoros government on March 25 stated that Bacar had fled the island incognito seeking exile in Mayotte: "Colonel Mohamed Bacar has been spotted in the village of Sadanpoini where he is heading without doubt for a place to flee on board a kwassa (small canoe) towards Mayotte island, it seems, according to various sources, that he is dressed