Court on France's Mayotte island halts expulsion of irregular migrants

By Nur Asena Erturk

ANKARA (AA) — A local court on Mayotte, a French Indian Ocean island off East Africa, suspended an operation on Tuesday to expel irregular migrants from the overseas department, according to media reports.

France had scheduled the operation, dubbed Wuambushu, for Tuesday morning to move the migrants about 65 kilometers (40 miles) northwest to Anjouan, the closest island of the nearby archipelago nation Comoros. Both are located between Mozambique and the larger island of Madagascar.

Comoros has reportedly refused to admit the expelled individuals.

The local administration said it would appeal the decision by the court in Mayotte's largest city, Mamoudzou, to halt the operation to expel the migrants, most of whom were from Comoros, French broadcaster BFMTV said.

French Interior Ministry spokeswoman Camille Chaize told BFMTV that the operation had begun and would continue, noting that 1,800 police officers had already been deployed on the island.

French Interior Minister Gerald Darmanin said Monday: "This is an anti-delinquency and anti-slums operation ... And there are irregular individuals."

Estelle Youssouffa and Mansour Kamardine, French lawmakers for Mayotte, expressed their support for Operation Wuambushu on Monday.

"The slums are homes of insecurity, violence, hosting traffickers, and gangs who spread terror," Youssouffa said.

Last November, Youssouffa accused the government of neglecting years of violence on the island as Mamoudzou faced an unprecedented rise in gang violence.

She asked Prime Minister Elisabeth Borne when she would deploy the navy "to defend the borders" of the archipelago.

"What do you intend to do to prevent a civil war on Mayotte?" she asked.

- Situation in Mayotte

Mayotte has the highest unemployment rate among French overseas departments, according to France's National Institute of Statistics and Economic Studies (INSEE).

In 2021, the annual unemployment rate was 30% on the archipelago, versus 7.9% in the rest of France.

The island also has the youngest population in France, with 60% of its population younger than 25.

Mayotte has attracted large numbers of immigrants from neighboring islands, especially Comoros, in the last five years, mainly women aged 15-34 and their children.

Nearly half of its population lack French citizenship, with a third of newborns being foreigners, according to INSEE.

Authorities last year escorted 25,000 foreigners to the border, local authorities said.

Mayotte became a French protectorate in 1841 and a department of France in 2011 after a referendum.