11 Apr. (EUROPE PRESS) –
The Government of Comoros, an independent country in an archipelago in southeast Africa, has asked the French government to stop a plan to deport people in an irregular situation from Mayotte, an island in the archipelago under French control.
Through a statement, the Government of Comoros has rejected this French plan that proposes “the destruction of slums, followed by the deportation of all its occupants, undocumented, to the island of Anjouan”, an autonomous island governed by Comoros.
“This operation (…) goes against respect for Human Rights and runs the risk of undermining the good relations that unite the two countries,” reads the statement.
They have also highlighted the rejection by civil society, both French and Comorian, of an operation that they oppose “not only because of the conditions of its preparation, but also because of the consequences it will leave and the precedent it will create.”
The majority of these migrants would be nationals of Comoros, and his Government asks “to give priority to dialogue and consultation”, not only with them, but also “with other countries whose fellow citizens may be found illegally in Mayotte, in order to find the answers necessary humanitarian rehousing and training measures, but also regularization, for those whose status requires it”.
The operation, dubbed ‘Wuambushu’, is scheduled to begin on April 20, when Ramadan ends on the Muslim-majority island.
In a referendum in December 1974, most of the islands of the then French colony decided for independence, thus creating the nation of Comoros, made up of three main islands. This was not the case on the island of Mayotte, which is the only one in the archipelago that voted to remain under French rule and has since been one of the overseas territories of the European nation.
Even so, the Government of Comoros considers the island part of its territory, and in its statement mentions that “International Law and Comorian law make Mayotte part of the national territory of the Union of the Comoros.”
Therefore, the president of the Comoros Assembly, Moustadroine Abdu, declared this Monday that “all the nationals of the other islands (of the Comoros archipelago) who are there are legitimately at home, their status is not the same as that of any other resident of another country”, according to the local newspaper ‘Al Watwan’.
