SAINT DENIS, Reunion, March 28, 2008 (AFP) - The ousted leader of the Comoros island of Anjouan, Mohamed Bacar, will appear in court in Reunion on Saturday along with 23 other men, mostly soldiers, the prosecutor said.

Bacar was driven out of Anjouan -- the third largest island in the Comoros archipelago -- on Tuesday by an African Union force after rejecting calls to step down.

After fleeing to Mayotte, a French territory in the Indian Ocean, Bacar was flown aboard a French military plane to Reunion on Thursday.

Prosecutor Francois Muguet said Friday that Bacar and his 23 suspected accomplices would face charges of illegal entry into Mayotte and carrying unauthorized weapons, crimes punishable by a maximum of five years in jail.

Bacar is also seeking political asylum from France while officials in the Comoros are asking Paris to extradite him.

Bacar, 45, seized power in Anjouan in 2001 and was confirmed in office by an election in 2002.

In 2007, the French-trained officer staged another election to confirm his re-election, but the vote was rejected as illegal by both the Comoros federal government and the African Union.

Bacar and hundreds of police nevertheless defiantly remained on the island until Tuesday when an the Comoran-AU troops invaded to re-establish federal rule.