On October 3 , 1995 , 11 p.m. , the French deployed 600 men against a force of 33 mercenaries and a 300-man dissident force . Denard however ordered his mercenaries not to fight . Within 7 hours the airports at Iconi and Hahaya and the French Embassy in Moroni were secured . By 3:00 p.m. the next day Bob Denard and his mercenaries had surrendered . This ( response ) operation , codenamed '' Azalée '' , was remarkable , because there were no casualties , and just in seven days , plans were drawn up and soldiers were deployed . Denard was taken to France and jailed . Prime minister Caambi El-Yachourtu became acting president until Djohar returned from exile in January , 1996 . In March 1996 , following presidential elections , Mohamed Taki Abdoulkarim , a member of the civilian government that Denard had tried to set up in October 1995 , became president . On 23 November 1996 , Ethiopian Airlines Flight 961 crashed near a beach on the island after it was hijacked and ran out of fuel killing 125 people and leaving 50 survivors
Ethiopian Airlines Flight 961
Ethiopian Airlines Flight 961
History of the Comoros