The French government has launched Operation “Wuambushu” in Mayotte. These series of police interventions which were “secret” should make it possible to fight against delinquency and illegal immigration in the 101st department of France. Paris wants to carry out massive expulsions of illegal immigrants and the destruction of slums. But what is it exactly? What are the reviews? 20 minutes takes stock for you.
What does this operation consist of?
France wants to dislodge irregular migrants from the slums of Mayotte, and deport undocumented migrants, most of whom are Comorians, to Anjouan, the nearest Comorian island located 70 km away. The government has not given a launch or end date for this “Wuambushu” (“recovery” in Mahorais) operation.
But some 1,800 police and gendarmes, including hundreds of metropolitan reinforcements, are already mobilized in the small archipelago in the Indian Ocean. 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.
What is the migration situation in Mayotte?
Many African migrants, and especially Comorians, regularly perish in shipwrecks while trying to reach Mayotte illegally each year, in particular on board small motorized fishing boats called kwassa kwassa. According to INSEE, almost half of the population of Mayotte does not have French nationality, but a third of foreigners were born on the island. In 2022, the authorities carried out 25,380 deportations to the border, according to the prefecture of Mayotte.
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. Minors are educated. But they are also accused by the population and elected officials of unbalancing the island’s few infrastructures and resources and of feeding an “outstanding” rate of delinquency.
Several so-called “decasing” operations, sometimes carried out by the inhabitants of the island themselves formed into militias, have already taken place since 2016. Gérald Darmanin said he wanted the destruction of “1,000 bangas within two months”. “We will take the time necessary […] always with the authorization of the judge, because it goes without saying that we relocate people in accordance with the law,” he said.
What is the reaction of the Comoros?
The Comorian president declared on Saturday that he favored “dialogue” with Paris on the thorny question of the return to the archipelago of people present illegally in the neighboring French department of Mayotte. “As far as the events in Mayotte are concerned, the path chosen is that of dialogue,” said Azali Assoumani, Head of State and self-proclaimed imam, from the Mitsudje mosque (15 km from the capital Moroni) where he led the prayer on this day symbolizing the end of Ramadan in the Indian Ocean country.
“We favor the search for new perspectives to find a solution to this unpleasant dispute,” he added. On Friday, the spokesman for the Moroni government, Houmed Msaidie, declared that “the Comoros do not intend to welcome those expelled from the operation planned by the French government in Mayotte”. “My government has clearly displayed its position, it will not accept expulsions,” added the Comorian Minister of the Interior on Saturday, interviewed by AFP. Fakridine Mahamoud, however, declared that he was continuing discussions with France and had spoken the day before with Gérald Darmanin: “I had a good discussion with my French counterpart. At this stage, we cannot speak of an agreement”.
What criticisms provokes this operation?
Several organisations, including the League for Human Rights, have expressed concern that “France is placing minors in situations of intolerable vulnerability and danger”. The National Consultative Commission on Human Rights (CNCDH) asked Beauvau to abandon the operation, faced with the risks of “worsening of fractures and social tensions” in Mayotte and “attack on respect for fundamental rights foreign people “.
“The actions announced […] particularly worry me, ”also said Defender of Rights Claire Hédon, who announced the presence of four of her delegates on site. “We cannot respect the rights of people by considering them as a formless mass”, argued Flor Tercero, the head of Lawyers for the Defense of Foreigners’ Rights (ADDE), a delegation of black robes mandated by metropolitan bars. to carry out an observation mission of the operation. The association Right to Housing (DAL) called on Sunday to stop the operation which it describes as “brutal” and “anti-poor”. This operation “of an unprecedented scale in France for a century”, according to the DAL, risks “breaking families” and throwing them “into great misery”, fears the association.