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Presidential inauguration

By Ken Herman | Tuesday, May 23, 2006, 02:50 PM

Like everyone, President Bush is wrapping up details for Friday’s big inauguration of the new president of the Union of the Comoros.

President Bush today picked Frederick Schieck, deputy administrator for the U.S. Agency for International Development, to lead the U.S. delegation to the inauguration of Ahmed Abdallah Mohamed Sambi.

As everyone knows, Comoros is a group of islands at the northern mouth of the Mozambique Channel, about two-thirds of the way between northern Madagascar and northern Mozambique.

At least that’s what the CIA’s World Factbook reports.

We also learn from the CIA that Comoros has endured 19 coups or attempted coups since winning independence from France in 1975.

Population: 690,948

Size: Just over 12 times the size of Washington DC

Religion: 98 percent Sunni Muslim, 2 percent Roman Catholic

Capital: Moroni

Economic overview: ” One of the world’s poorest countries, Comoros is made up of three islands that have inadequate transportation links, a young and rapidly increasing population, and few natural resources.”

Only other member of official U.S. delegation to inauguration: James McGee, ambassador to Madagascar.

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