FRANCE EXPULSION OF CLANDESTINE ALIENS

IN MAYOTTE

"The port of Mutsamudu (on the Comorian island of Anjouan) is unable to operate on the embarkation and disembarkation of passengers from this day until April 26, 2023, the date on which we will inform you of the “possible resumption of operations”, announced the maritime services in a note addressed to a shipping company and of which AFP had a copy. "As long as the French side decides to do things unilaterally, we will take our responsibilities. No deportee will return to a port under Comorian sovereignty," said Comorian Interior Minister Fakridine Mahamoud.

Operation Wuambushu aims to expel illegal foreigners mainly from neighboring Comoros in Mayotte.

A plan hailed by local elected officials who repeatedly point to the increase in delinquency.

Interior Minister Gérald Darmanin confirmed on Friday a series of police interventions against delinquency and illegal immigration in Mayotte, called "Wambushu", in the 101st French department located in the Indian Ocean.

Gérald Darmanin, affirmed the holding of a "long-term" operation, called "Wambushu" (resumption, in Mahoran), validated by Emmanuel Macron in the Defense Council, according to a source familiar with the matter.

The Minister of the Interior denied a launch on Monday and for a period of two months, advanced by the press. "There is not a moment when we start it and a moment when we finish it", he added, even affirming that the operation had "already started".

2,500 staff mobilized

"There are 1,800 police and gendarmes right now in Mayotte who are carrying out police operations, which are putting an end to arms trafficking, which are putting an end to criminal gangs", of which 60 have been counted, he said.

In total, more than 2,500 personnel (law enforcement, regional health agency, justice, health reserve) are mobilized, according to a source familiar with the matter.

This operation must include mass expulsions of illegal aliens and destruction of slums. In Mayotte, slums extend over several kilometres. These hundreds of homes are inhabited by hundreds of illegal immigrants from neighboring Comoros. It is precisely these people who are targeted by the expulsion operation named Wuambushu.

More than 150,000 illegal immigrants

Mayotte, which became the 101st French department in 2011, attracts thousands of migrants every year, arriving by sea in "kwassa kwassa", makeshift boats, from the neighboring Comorian island of Anjouan, but also from West Africa. Great Lakes and increasingly Madagascar.

Nearly half of the estimated 350,000 inhabitants of Mayotte do not have French nationality, according to INSEE, but a third of foreigners were born on the island. In its February 2019 report, INSEE indicated that between "significant immigration from the Comoros" and the departure of "natives of Mayotte abroad", 48% of the department's population was foreign in 2017, a figure up 8% from 2012.

Insecurity and "non-standard" delinquency.

These illegal migrants, settled in particularly unhealthy neighborhoods, "bangas" prey to violence and trafficking, live for the most part quietly on the island, occupying small jobs.

The minors are educated. But they are also accused by the population and the elected officials of unbalancing the few infrastructures and resources of the island and of feeding a rate of delinquency Several operations called "decasing", sometimes carried out by inhabitants of the island themselves formed into militias, have already taken place since 2016.

The Operation is also hailed by local elected officials who denounce acts of daily delinquency. "This operation is already finding a solution inside the island to identify and locate these people and drive them back to the border," explains the mayor of Bandrélé (Mayotte). This year, personal attacks have increased by 50%.

In its report "Living environment and security in Mayotte" of November 2021, INSEE indeed describes "exceptional delinquency". Over the period 2018-2019, in each area – burglaries, thefts, physical or sexual violence… – Mahoran crime clearly exceeds the figures for mainland France.

"The inhabitants of Mayotte are personally three times more victims of thefts with or without violence", indicates INSEE, and the feeling of insecurity "far exceeds all the standards of the metropolis or other Drom (Departments and regions of Overseas)". 48% of Mahorais feel insecure at home (52% in their neighborhood), five to six times more than in France. All of these numbers are increasing year after year.

10,000 illegal aliens targeted

The archipelago of Mayotte is the department where the National Rally signed its highest score in the first round of the presidential election. Marine Le Pen won 59.10% of the vote there, far ahead of the other candidates, but also very far from her 2017 score. In a department plagued by insecurity and illegal immigration, the RN seduces.

The operation could target up to 10,000 illegal aliens. Some should be deported to a neighboring island.

Comoros "does not intend to welcome deportees"

The authorities of the Comoros, who still claim their sovereignty over Mayotte, which remained French after the independence of the Comoros in 1974, are up against this operation. The Comoros "do not intend to welcome deportees" said the government spokesman on Friday.

The Comoros have nevertheless committed in an agreement signed in 2019 to "cooperate" with Paris on immigration issues in exchange for development aid of 150 million euros.