A meeting to continue the cooperation. The French and Comorian Ministers of the Interior and Foreign Affairs, meeting in Paris on Tuesday against the backdrop of tensions in Mayotte, “reaffirmed their desire to fight against trafficking and against smugglers”, according to a joint press release. The text also mentions their efforts to ease the tensions caused by the “Wuambushu” operation carried out by the French authorities in Mayotte to dislodge undocumented migrants from the slums, the vast majority of whom come from the neighboring islands of the Comoros.
In their joint press release, the two governments stress that they want to “coordinate their joint efforts to safeguard human lives at sea and to manage human flows between the islands, including by resuming maritime links”. The two delegations also reaffirm “the friendship that binds France and the Union of the Comoros” and express “their wish for harmonious development of the south-west region of the Indian Ocean”.
A meeting between Macron and his Comorian counterpart
In addition, they undertake to “intensify” the dialogue between the two governments “with a view to strengthening the bilateral relationship and easing tensions”. Monday evening, it was French President Emmanuel Macron who discreetly received his Comorian counterpart Azali Assoumani. This meeting was confirmed to AFP on Tuesday by Hamada Madi, diplomatic adviser to the Comorian head of state.
French Interior Minister Gérald Darmanin launched a series of operations, grouped under the name “Wuambushu”, aimed at dislodging irregular migrants, mostly from neighboring Comoros, from the insanitary slums of Mayotte. Of the estimated 350,000 inhabitants of Mayotte, half do not have French nationality.