“We must choose unfailing republican solidarity and equality with regard to Mayotte”

NOTWe, elected officials of Mayotte, have been warning for years about the rotting situation that our department is experiencing. Demographic pressure linked to immigration is increasing, public services are deteriorating, and insecurity is exploding. In September 2022, we were already calling for help, with a operation “dead island”to denounce an insecurity out of control.

The “Wuambushu” operation, launched by the Minister of the Interior and Overseas Territories, Gérald Darmanin, gave us the hope of having been heard. Restoring security, eradicating slums, fighting against illegal immigration are three objectives that we support. It’s about regaining control of our destiny and restoring peace to Mayotte. Unfortunately, despite the significant reinforcements of law enforcement and the arrest of dangerous criminals, the evolution of events makes us fear the worst.

In reaction to the “Wuambushu” operation, the Union of the Comoros is reluctant to return its nationals in an irregular situation. A diplomatic showdown has begun, the outcome of which is uncertain. In terms of the fight against slums, legal action has slowed down demolitions, and difficulties remain due to the territory’s reduced rehousing and accommodation capacities.

In terms of insecurity, physical violence is still mive and tensions are high. The Mahorais still suffer extreme violence, such as attacks by bands of hooded delinquents armed with machetes. Some elected officials, among them mayors, are also targeted.

A confession of helplessness

Faced with these difficulties, we are attentive to the reactions of the government. In a recent statement, Jean-François Carenco, Minister Delegate for Overseas Territories, announced that the “Wuambushu” operation could take end within two or three months with a return to metropolitan France of the police and gendarmes dispatched. It would be an admission of impotence and an unforgivable abandonment of Mayotte. We cannot accept this shameful outcome, this waste.

We know that our problems could not be solved in three months. But the current level of tension alerts us. Everything can degenerate quickly if the action of the State in Mayotte turns into a tactical withdrawal. A political action must be redefined in connection with the local elected officials that we are. And, to be effective, the courage to act must be resolutely long-term.

In our eyes, the Quai d’Orsay should review its position on Mayotte and finally dare to officially affirm the superiority of the principle of the freedom of peoples to self-determination in international law. It is by this principle that France’s choice was expressed in Mayotte. French Mayotte, it is not a neocolonial domination which continues, it is on the contrary the democratic expression of the Mahoraises and the Mahorais who have made the choice of freedom within the French nation.

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