For Colonel Denard, a burly French mercenary who has reached the age of 60 in a profession not known for longevity, the Comoros had become a haven after he spent more than two decades as a hired gun in Africa's coups, rebellions and civil wars.

He has been skittish of the press, and it remains unclear how he first took up arms, although he has worn what look like French paratrooper wings on his khaki tunic. Various reports have said he served in Indochina, Yemen, Chad and Libya. A Full Resume as Mercenary

He came to prominence in 1967, when he led an unsuccessful invasion of Katanga province, now Shaba, in Zaire. A year later, he popped up in Biafra as that region fought to secede from Nigeria.

He was said to have served in Angola in 1975 on behalf of the National Front for the Liberation of Angola, a guerrilla faction that was one of the losers in the civil war that erupted when the Portugese pulled out. He subsequently led an abortive attempt to topple President Mathieu Kerekou in Benin. There have been rumors of links to the United States Central Intelligence Agency and the French secret service. His rendezvous with the Comoros came in 1975, when he helped depose President Abdallah, who had become head of state after France granted independence to three of the four islands. Inhabitants of the fourth island, Mayotte, elected to remain under French rule.

The islands, best known for their vanilla, cloves and other spices, had for centuries put up with foreign invaders, including mercenaries from Madagascar, before France extended its control over the archipelago between 1843 and 1886. The country now has a predominantly Muslim population of about 450,000. A Bizarre Dictatorship