The French government's plan to abolish land rights in Mayotte, the French overseas department, to stem illegal immigration, mainly from the neighboring archipelago of the Comoros, could call into question
"the so-called belonging from the island of Mayotte to France”
, according to the Comorian government.
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“We are entitled to wonder if the stated desire to abolish land rights in Mayotte would not, finally, be the beginning of a questioning of the so-called belonging of the island of Mayotte to France”
, said the Comorian Ministry of Foreign Affairs in a press release released late Tuesday, February 13.
Paris announced on Sunday an upcoming constitutional revision aimed at abolishing land law in the French department of the Indian Ocean, which is facing a serious migration crisis as well as an explosive social and security climate.
“It will no longer be possible to become French if you are not yourself the child of French parents
,” summarized French Interior Minister Gérald Darmanin, visiting the poorest department over the weekend. of France.
Mayotte has 310,000 inhabitants, according to the French statistics office (Insee), - a figure largely underestimated, according to the Regional Chamber of Accounts - including 48% Comorian immigrants and other African countries.
Slums
Most arrive clandestinely on French territory aboard traditional fishing boats from the Comorian island of Anjouan, only 70 km away.
Many then settle in unsanitary
“bangas”
(huts) in the slums.
The measure planned by the French government, limited to the territory of Mayotte,
“calls into question the history of France and the principles which founded the Republic”
, believe the Comoros, which claims the island remained in the French fold when in 1975 Moroni chose independence.
A situation which has since fueled tensions between Paris and Moroni, maintained according to the Comoros
“in defiance of international law and relevant UN resolutions”
.
“The Comoros will never stop claiming Mayotte
,” insisted the Comorian Ministry of Foreign Affairs in its press release.
Located at the mouth of the Mozambique Channel, the archipelago is made up of the three islands of Grande Comore, Anjouan and Mohéli.
The French government wants to initiate without delay the essential constitutional revision to ratify the abolition of land rights in Mayotte, already denounced by the left-wing parties who will refuse to vote for it.