“We want to open the Comoros to English-speaking countries in the region,” such as Tanzania, Kenya, and Uganda, Foreign Minister Mohamed El-Amine Souef said.

“These are the countries with which we already have long-standing relations, where Comorians go more and more to, for business or for treatment,” he told reporters in the capital Moroni.

The Comoros, an archipelago of three islands between Mozambique and Madagascar and one of the world’s poorest countries, is already a member of the Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa.

It will be admitted into the Southern African Development Community, where the majority of members are English-speaking, at the annual SADC summit to be held in August in Namibia.

The bloc comprise: Angola, Botswana, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Lesotho, Madagascar, Malawi, Mauritius, Mozambique, Namibia, Seychelles, South Africa, Swaziland, Tanzania, Zambia, and Zimbabwe.

SADC spokeswoman Barbara Lopi confirmed that the Comoros will officially join in August.

The minister said the decision to join SADC had nothing to do with the islands’ spat with France over Mayotte, a neighbouring island which remains part of France but which the Comoros claim is their territory.

The relationship between the Comoros and France, the colonial power until 1975, “is in no way comparable with that of other countries,” he said.

“With France, we share a lot of things in common. With France we have only one disagreement – the question of Mayotte.”

Emigration to Mayotte, where income is 13 times higher per head, has surged for years as Comorians seek better opportunities on the French island.

Since March, Comoros has refused to take back illegal migrants expelled from Mayotte, located a few dozen kilometres away.

Paris has in turn stopped issuing visas to all Comorians wishing to travel to France.

The minister said negotiations with France were ongoing.

“France defends its interests, we defend ours, it’s a long process, the important thing is that the contact is not broken,” he said.