MUTSAMADU, Comoros, March 24, 2008 (AFP) - The president of the Comoros said Monday he had ordered his army to retake the rebel island of Anjouan, as civilians there were warned of an imminent assault by African Union troops.

In a televised address, President Ahmed Abdallah Mohamed Sambi announced that he had green-lighted a long-threatened joint operation by Comoran and African Union forces to reunify the Indian Ocean archipelago.

Earlier, the military has air-dropped a cloud of leaflets over the rebel island's capital Mutsamadu warning citizens that the taskforce would arrive within hours to depose Anouan's leader Colonel Mohamed Bacar.