The 37th Southern African Development Community-SADC Ordinary Summit of Heads of State and Government have welcomed the Union of Comoros as a new member of SADC. The inclusion of the Union now brings the number of member states of the region to 16.
The Comoros is a sovereign archipelago island nation located between North-Eastern Mozambique and North-Western Madagascar in the Indian Ocean. Its capital is Moroni, on Grande Comore.
At 1,660 km2 (640 sq mi), the Comoros is the third-smallest African nation by area with a population of approximately 798,000 people. As a nation formed at a crossroads of different civilisations, the archipelago is noted for its diverse culture and history. It first inhabited by Bantu speakers who came from East Africa, supplemented by Arab and Austronesian immigration. The archipelago later became part of the French colonial empire in the 19th century before establishing independence in 1975.
The Comoros are also a member state of the African Union, Francophonie, Organisation of Islamic Cooperation, Arab League (of which it is the southernmost state, being the only member state of the Arab League with a tropical climate and also entirely within the Southern Hemisphere), the Indian Ocean Commission and the Indian Ocean Vanilla Islands.
