More than 300 migrants, the majority from Great Lakes Africa, were evacuated on Monday from Mayotte, where their installation had provoked the anger of groups of residents demanding an end to illegal immigration, to France.
The prefecture of Mayotte confirmed to AFP that 308 occupants of the Cavani camp who had obtained asylum took off during the day for France, specifying that 14 others who had been rejected were sent back to their country on Friday. 'origin.
They will be housed at least until mid-March in Thiverval-Grignon (Yvelines), in an area owned by the State.
The refugees will be welcomed “in the student residences”, the area having housed the AgroParisTech school until 2022, Nadine Gohard, the mayor of the town without a label, told AFP.
A dismantling announced in mid-January
The installation of migrants in the grounds of the Cavani stadium, in Mamoudzou, was the starting point of blockages and roadblocks still partly paralyzing the Mayotte archipelago, in the Indian Ocean.
The dismantling of the camp, announced in mid-January by Gérald Darmanin, began at the end of January in several waves and resumed on a larger scale last weekend.
In a press release published Sunday evening, the prefecture indicated that "the state services carried out a large-scale operation to dismantle the camp installed in the immediate vicinity of the Cavani stadium", while estimating the number of migrants at 410 always on site.
The Minister for Overseas Territories expected on the island on Wednesday
As of Friday, trucks had unloaded skips into the parking lot adjoining this camp so that the remains of the camp occupants' shelters could be placed there, noted an AFP journalist.
Word of mouth having had its effect, nearly a thousand migrants from all over the island finally met near the stadium over the weekend with the hope of being evacuated.
“We are the only survivors of our family.
I arrived here a year ago and I am staying with my brother” in accommodation managed by an association, explained to AFP a young 18-year-old woman from the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), wishing to keep anonymity.
“I already have my refugee status but I came to the Cavani stadium because apparently we only take those who live there,” she added.
The resumption of the evacuation of the camp took place just before the trip to Mayotte of the new Minister Delegate for Overseas Territories Marie Guévenoux, expected on the island on Wednesday.