French minister arrives in Mayotte as rage grips tropical island

http://www.france24.com ^

[drop 50 and fire for effect]

Annick Girardin, France’s overseas territory minister, arrived in Mayotte Monday following weeks of protests across the Indian Ocean archipelago. But few believe Girardin can solve the chronic problems confronting Mayotte’s residents.

Rubber tyres and tree trunks block roads in these tiny Indian Ocean islands, traffic slows to a crawl and protestors have been taking to the streets over the past three weeks in the French territory of Mayotte.

Situated in the Gulf of Mozambique, between Madagascar and the coast of southeastern Africa, Mayotte has sun, sands and is ringed by a coral reef rich in marine life, all of which makes for a tropical paradise tourist destination.

But it has also turned into a destination for desperate migrants from Comoros, an archipelago nation that declared independence from France in 1975. Mayotte was the only one of the four main Comoros Islands that voted to remain part of France. In 2011, Mayotte became an overseas French department following a 2009 referendum, which made the tiny sliver of terrain into the 101st French administrative department and the first with a Muslim majority.

Mayotte’s status as a French overseas department -- and a member of the EU’s Outermost Regions -- has incited a massive influx of migrants arriving from Comoros on dilapidated kwassa-kwassa fishing boats, flooding local schools and hospitals, stretching resources, and spreading discontent across the territory.

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This is fascinating. The Mahorans (Mayotte's natives) share ethnicity and religion with the rest of the Comoros Islands but have twice voted to integrate more deeply with France.

Their anger is not at government "bigotry" or "discrimination." Rather, they are furious about the French governments abject failure to enforce the maritime border with the Comoros and immigration law. The money quote toward the end of the article:

"But for most native Mahorans, illegal immigration remains the most pressing issue, one that has seen growing support for Marine LePen’s far-right National Front party in the predominantly non-white, Muslim-majority region."

But I thought being against illegal immigration and for the National Front meant you were a white supremacist? /s

[vladimir998]

Thanks for posting this.

[DIRTYSECRET]

Colonialism wasn’t so bad.

[aquila48]

This is so rich in irony, it’s hard to decide where to start.

Here you have people who voted for independence and got rid of their evil colonizers, risking life and limb to get back under the thumb of the white, racist colonial masters.

I’ve often said that the solution to Africa’s problems is recolonization.