Court suspends “Wuambushu”, the controversial eviction of a poor neighborhood that divides the island of Mayotte

First modification: 04/26/2023 – 00:47

Wuambushu… This word is on everyone’s mind in Mayotte, a small island in the Indian Ocean and French overseas territory. It is the name chosen for a vast operation to fight crime and clandestine migration, promoted by the French Minister of the Interior, Gérald Darmanin.

In this African territory of the Comoros archipelago, a French department since 2011, Wuambushu arouses both concern and expectation. The operation, about which there is so much talk, has acquired a spectacular dimension on the island, after the arrival in mid-April of hundreds of police reinforcements.

As the first stage in a series of forced evacuations, the operation was scheduled to begin at dawn Tuesday with the eviction of Talus 2, a slum in Koungou commune near the capital Mamoudzou. But the departure of the inhabitants of this town, where more than 100 families live, was suspended by justice.

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The Mamoudzou judicial court ordered “to cease all evacuation and demolition operations of the affected homes”, considering that they “would endanger the safety” of the other inhabitants of the neighborhood, whose homes would be weakened. The Court also requested that adequate rehousing solutions be offered to the evicted families, as well as storage places for their belongings, which threatened to be destroyed during the operation.

In Talus 2, at the foot of their blue and gray sheet metal houses, women and children celebrated their victory against the eviction order. “Nothing is going to be destroyed, finally some rest!” rejoiced Mdohoma Hadja, a 33-year-old resident. But some clashes between the inhabitants and the police, deployed in large numbers in the neighborhoods of the commune, spoiled the celebrations.

The prefect of Mayotte has taken note of the judicial decision and has asked the state lawyers to appeal; the Minister of the Interior, Gérald Darmanin, considers that “what endangers the population is unsanitary conditions, insecurity and the non-recognition of property rights”. The spokeswoman for the ministry, Camille Chaize, assured for her part that the operation, which “has already been underway for several weeks”, will last “several weeks, several months”.

Diplomatic battle between the Comoros and France

Numerous associations, groups and unions denounce Wuambushu. This “spectacular action” (…) heralds multiple acts of violence and violations of human rights,” according to the collective ‘Uni.es contre l’immigration jetable’ (United and united against disposable immigration), which brings together 400 associations and unions and whose statements were collected by various media.In an article published in ‘Le Monde’, the environmentalist MEP Damien Carême accused Gérald Darmanin of “attacking the poor” and of “wanting to make Mayotte the laboratory of their violent, inhumane and undignified policies“.

Mayotte’s slums are mainly populated by migrants, the majority coming from the Comoros. Darmanin, who also wants to expel people without residence permits from the island, announced the destruction of 1,000 neighborhoods “within two months.”

A large part of the Mayotte population supports this operation and accuses clandestine migration of fueling insecurity on the island. As a sign of the extreme tension, the statements are increasingly virulent between supporters and detractors of the expulsion operations.

“These criminals, these thugs, these terrorists, at some point they will have to be killed,” said the first vice-president of the Mayotte departmental council, Salime Mdéré, on a local public channel. “Such comments are inadmissible and I strongly condemn them,” reacted the prefect of Mayotte.

The population of Mayotte, estimated between 350,000 and 400,000 inhabitants, has multiplied by twelve in sixty years. Half of the population are foreigners (mainly from the Comoros) fleeing poverty or have family ties there.

Mayotte is the only island in the Comoro archipelago – which includes three others (Anjouan, Grande Comore and Moheli) – that wanted to remain French at the time of independence, in the 1970s. Since then, the conflicts between France and the Comoros, which claim their sovereignty over the small island, have followed one another.

And indeed, the crisis is taking on a diplomatic dimension. A ship carrying around 60 people was prevented from docking in Anjouan on Monday as Comorian authorities said they could not afford to receive an influx of migrants and accused Paris of sowing “violence”.

Every year, many African migrants, especially Comorians, try to reach Mayotte, with frequent shipwrecks of the “kwassa kwassa”, small boats used by smugglers. In 2022 there were some 8,000 arrests at sea, according to figures provided by AFP.

AFP and local media