the Comorian president says he favors “dialogue” with France to resolve the issue of illegal immigration

“We favor the search for new perspectives to find a solution to this unpleasant dispute.” Comorian President Azali Assoumani declared, on Saturday April 22, to favor “the way of dialogue” with Paris on the question of the return to the archipelago of people present illegally in the neighboring French department of Mayotte.

>> REPORT. Operation “Wuambushu” in Mayotte: in the largest slum in France, Comorians fear “civil war”

The “Wuambushu” operation, launched by the French authorities, aims to dislodge illegal migrants from the slums of Mayotte, most of whom are Comorians, and deport them to the nearest Comorian island located just 70 km away. More than 500 members of the police have been deployed as reinforcements in the Indian Ocean archipelago to carry out the evictions and destruction of a thousand “bangas”, sheet metal dwellings.

“The Comoros do not intend to welcome deportees”

Comoros government spokesman Houmed Msaidie told AFP on Friday that “the Comoros [n’entendaient] not welcome deportees from the operation planned by the French government in Mayotte”. “My government has clearly stated its position, it will not accept expulsions”, added on Saturday the Comorian Minister of the Interior interviewed by AFP. Fakridine Mahamoud, however, said he was continuing discussions with France.

The Comoros are committed to an agreement signed in 2019 in “cooperate” with France on immigration issues in exchange for development aid of 150 million euros. Many African migrants, and in particular Comorians, regularly perish in shipwrecks while trying to reach Mayotte illegally each year, in particular on board small motorized fishing boats called “kwassa kwassa”.