In 1961 the Comoros was granted autonomous rule and, in 1975, it broke all ties with France and established itself as an independent republic. From the very beginning Mayotte refused to join the new republic and aligned itself even more firmly to the French Republic, but the other islands remained committed to independence. The first president of the Comoros, Ahmed Abdallah Abderemane, did not last long before being ousted in a coup d'état by Ali Soilih, an atheist with an Islamic background.