There are a number of systems of transport in the Comoros. The
Comoros
The Comoros,, ' officially the Union of the Comoros,; ar, الاتحاد القمري ' is an independent country made up of three islands in southeastern Africa, located at the northern end of the Mozambique Channel in the Indian Ocean. It ...
possesses of road, of which are paved. It has three seaports:
Fomboni
Fomboni (population approx. 19,000) is the third-largest city in the Comoros. It is also the capital and largest city on the island and the Autonomous Island of Mohéli, of which it makes up more than one third of the population. Characterized ...
,
Moroni and
Moutsamoudou, but does not have a merchant marine, and no longer has any railway network. It has four airports, all with paved runways, one with runways over long, with the others having runways shorter than .
The isolation of the Comoros had made air traffic a major means of transportation. One of President Abdallah's accomplishments was to make the Comoros more accessible by air. During his administration, he negotiated agreements to initiate or enhance commercial air links with Tanzania and Madagascar. The Djohar regime reached an agreement in 1990 to link Moroni and Brussels by air. By the early 1990s, commercial flights connected the Comoros with France, Mauritius, Kenya, South Africa, Tanzania, and Madagascar. The national airline was Air Comores. Daily flights linked the three main islands, and air service was also available to Mahoré; each island had airstrips. In 1986 the republic received a grant from the French government's CCCE to renovate and expand
Hahaya airport, near Moroni. Because of the absence of scheduled sea transport between the islands, nearly all interisland passenger traffic is by air.
More than 99% of freight is transported by sea. Both Moroni on Njazidja and Mutsamudu on Nzwani have artificial harbors. There is also a harbor at Fomboni, on Mwali. Despite extensive internationally financed programs to upgrade the harbors at Moroni and Mutsamudu, by the early 1990s only Mutsamudu was operational as a deepwater facility. Its harbor could accommodate vessels of up to eleven meters' draught. At Moroni, ocean-going vessels typically lie offshore and are loaded or unloaded by smaller craft, a costly and sometimes dangerous procedure. Most freight continues to be sent to Tanzania, Kenya, Reunion, or Madagascar for transshipment to the Comoros. Use of Comoran ports is further restricted by the threat of cyclones from December through March. The privately operated Comoran Navigation Company (''Société Comorienne de Navigation'') is based in Moroni, and provides services to Madagascar.
Roads serve the coastal areas, rather than the interior, and the mountainous terrain makes surface travel difficult.
See also
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History of rail transport in the Comoros
References
*Much of the material in this article is adapted from the ''
CIA World Factbook
''The World Factbook'', also known as the ''CIA World Factbook'', is a reference resource produced by the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) with almanac-style information about the countries of the world. The official print version is available ...
.''
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