Comorian Coups and Mercenary YearsComoros · 1975–1995“A thread from the great cord of two hundred and fifty. Hold it while I speak.”The Comoros declared independence in 1975 and was couped within a month — and so began two decades in which the islands' presidents were made and unmade chiefly by one Frenchman: Bob Denard, mercenary, who seized the state itself in 1978 and ran its guard like a private firm.