In late April 2023, the French government launched a large-scale and, by all accounts,
brutal crackdown on immigrants in its overseas department of Mayotte.
While the events have received very little international coverage, it has caused an
outcry in France, where many have condemned it as a gross violation of human rights.
But it's also reawakened questions about the territory's contested status.
So, what exactly prompted the recent developments?
And why is Mayotte such a controversial issue?
Hello and welcome. If you're new to the channel, my name is James Ker-Lindsay and
here I take an informed look at international relations, conflict, security, and statehood.
Although we tend to think that the era of decolonisation is now over,
the legacy and consequences of European imperialism can still be felt in many places.
Often this is centred on lingering grievances about colonial injustices.
Many countries rightly see it as a period of subjugation and exploitation.
But as time passes, the effects slowly fade into history.
However, in some cases, the colonial experience carries continuing consequences.
This is felt most acutely when the decolonisation process resulted in the partition of a territory.
Sometimes, this was done to create separate countries - as happened with India and Pakistan.
But in other cases, the partition was meant
to allow a colonial power to retain control of a part of the territory.
This might be for military purposes, as happened with Britain in Mauritius and Cyprus.
Alternatively, it could be because the local population
wanted to retain its links with the colonial power.
One of the best examples of this latter group is Mayotte.
At 630,000 square kilometres, or just under a quarter of a million square miles,
the Republic of France is the world's 42nd largest country.
But while most of the country lies in continental Europe - otherwise
known as European France or Metropolitan France - around 130,000 square kilometres,
or approximately 15 of its territory, lies overseas.
This territory falls into several different categories.
Some are autonomous and semi-autonomous territories,
such as French Polynesia and New Caledonia in the South Pacific.
However, five areas are fully integrated into France as full
departments on an equal footing with their counterparts in European France.
These are French Guiana in South America, the Caribbean islands of Guadeloupe and Martinique,
and Réunion a Mayotte in the Indian Ocean.
Mayotte lies at the southern end of the Comoros archipelago - a cluster of four
main islands and numerous smaller islands and islets lying off the southeast coast of Africa.
At 374 square kilometres or around 144 square miles, its closest neighbours are
the three other islands that now make up the Union of the Comoros to its northwest.
To its southeast is Madagascar.
And directly to its west, Mozambique is the closest mainland African country,
around 400 kilometres or 300 miles away.
The population is around 270 000, or 0.4 per cent of the overall French population of 68 million.
The Mahorais, as they're known, are a complex combination of Africans,
Arabs, Asians and European settlers.
While most are Sunni Muslims, like the 820
000 Comorans on the other Islands, there's also a large Catholic community.
Little is known about the ancient history of the Comoros islands.
However, it's believed that having been initially discovered by Arab and Persian
explorers, the islands were later settled by Malays, Arabs and mainland Africans.
Then in the 15th century, Islam arrived, and they became a patchwork of local sultanates.
However, our story really starts in 1841 when one of the ruling Sultans
ceded Mayotte to France, which then declared it a colony two years later.
This lasted until the middle of the 1880s,
when France seized control of the rest of the islands, making them a protectorate.
In 1912, all four Islands were merged with
neighbouring Madagascar to become the colony of Madagascar and Dependencies.
This lasted until 1946 when the islands were again split
off and became a separate French overseas territory, with its capital on Mayotte.
By the early 1950s, pressure was growing on France and the other European colonial
powers to grant Independence to their overseas territories.
In 1958, France held a referendum on a new constitution offering independence
to any of the colonies that voted against it.
But like almost every other French territory,
the Comoros Islands voted overwhelmingly in favour of the new arrangement.
Despite this, international calls for decolonisation continued and in 1960 the
UN General Assembly passed Resolution 1514 - the landmark Declaration of
the Granting of Independence to Colonial Countries and Peoples.
While France eventually gave in to the calls and relinquished most of its African holdings
by the middle of the 1960s, including neighbouring Madagascar, it nevertheless
retained control over the Comoros Islands - albeit granting them extensive self-rule.
And, as part of this, it also transferred the capital from
Mayotte to another of the Islands, Grand Comore.
But while calls for independence now grew on the northern islands,
Mayotte wanted to retain its links to France.
Led by the Mahorais Popular Movement, the MPM, the islanders argued that their
long ties to France had given Mayotte a distinct identity from the other Islands.
In 1973, France and the Comoros government finally agreed that
the islands would gain independence by 1978.
But while the United Nations welcomed the news, reaffirming the inalienable rights of the people
of the Comoro archipelago to self-determination, it also emphasised that the unity and the
territorial Integrity of the islands must be preserved, and called on France to protect this.
In December 1974, the islands held an independence referendum.
But while the three northern islands decided on statehood, Mayotte voted against it.
As a result, when the islands unilaterally declared independence the following July,
Mayotte refused to join the new country.
Instead, in a separate referendum held in early 1976, 99.4 per cent
of the island's inhabitants voted to retain their links to France.
Having decided to retain control over Mayotte,
France faced growing pressure to relinquish the island.
In a series of resolutions over the next decade and a half, the UN General Assembly
repeatedly reconfirmed France's responsibility to respect the unity and territorial integrity
of the entire archipelago, and called the talks between the two governments.
Likewise, the African Union also passed numerous resolutions reaffirming the
Comoros' sovereignty over the island of Mayotte and calling on France to end its occupation.
But while there have been suggestions that France would have liked to end the
issue and integrate the island into the Comoros, it was unable to do so
given the overwhelming wishes of the Islanders to remain a part of France.
Indeed, even today, it argues that the decision to retain the island was
based on the self-determination of the islanders themselves.
Paris also insists that it complied with international law in doing so,
even though the UN General
Assembly explicitly condemned the partition of colonial territories as far back as 1966.
In the meantime, Mayotte has steadily become ever more integrated with France.
In 2000, the islands voted to become an overseas departmental community - gaining
constitutionally recognised position as a territory subject to French sovereignty in 2003.
This was followed by another vote in March 2009 which saw over 95 per
cent vote in favour of a plan to make the island France's 101st department and its
fifth overseas department - a decision that came into force on the 31st of March 2011.
Most recently, on 1 January 2014,
Mayotte became one of nine so-called outermost regions of the European Union.
These territories are geographically distanced
from the EU, but considered fully integrated areas of the Union.
As well as Mayotte, these include the four other French overseas department and the
French collectivity of Saint Martin in the Caribbean; the Portuguese autonomous regions
of the Azores and Madeira; and the Canary Islands, an autonomous community of Spain.
And it's this gradual integration into France and
the European Union that lies behind the current crisis.
Although Mayotte ranks as the poorest region of France, and indeed the entire European Union,
with a per capita GDP of around US$10,600 in 2021, it's still considerably wealthier
than the Comoros, which had a per capita GDP of a mere US$1,600.
As a result, Mayotte has become a magnet for many Comorans searching for a better life.
This has seen tens of thousands make the 70 kilometre, or 43-mile, journey from Anjouan,
the nearest of the Comoros islands - a dangerous trip often made in small boats.
However, once in Mayotte they are trapped as the island has
separate immigration and asylum rules from the rest of France.
All this now means that around half the Island's population is
believed to have been born outside the territory.
Moreover, faced with high unemployment and nowhere to go, most fall into poverty.
Aside from the emergence of large migrant Shanty towns,
this has also seen a steady growth in crime rates, including murders and armed robberies.
All this has seen a growing backlash from the islanders to the extent that the National Front,
the main far-right party in France, now enjoys high support on the island.
Indeed, it won the largest share of the vote in the last presidential election;
even though most Islanders are Muslim, a group the Front has targeted in mainland France.
In response, France has repeatedly tried to tackle the issue.
As well as giving the Comoros 150 million euros
in development aid in 2019 in return for more stringent efforts to stop the boats,
it's also clamped down on new arrivals through increased patrols and surveillance.
However, despite intercepting more than 500 boats in 2022, carrying over 8
000 people, the crossings have continued and the number of migrants on Mayotte has grown.
It's against this backdrop that, on 20 April 2023,
the French Minister of the Interior and Overseas Territories, Gérald Darmanin,
announced a large-scale mission to round up and expel tens of thousands of migrants.
Operation Wuambushu saw 1800 members of the French security forces, including many sent from France,
sweep migrant villages to detain and deport those caught without papers.
However, as many warned, this quickly escalated into serious clashes.
Faced with attacks from locals armed with stones and machetes, French police used tear gas,
stun grenades, rubber bullets, and even handguns to disperse protesting migrants.
Just days later, with claims that the operation had put the island on the verge of insurrection,
a court in Mayotte ordered a halt to the slum clearances.
But despite this, France has vowed to continue its steps to fight the effects of illegal immigration.
All this has had broader implications.
For a start, it's been heavily criticised by human rights campaigners.
But it's also raised tensions between France and the Comoros.
As well as strongly condemning the operation,
the Comoros government initially refused to allow boats carrying the expelled to dock at
its ports - although it's since agreed to take back passengers carrying Comoros documents.
However, although the operation continues, the immediate strains appear to be using.
Azali Assoumani, the President of the Comoros,
has now spoken with his French counterpart, Emmanuel Macron.
And while no readout was produced,
the interior ministries have released a statement pledging to cool tensions.
Still, beneath all this the fundamental issue remains.
Speaking on French television, Assoumani, who also serves as the president of the African Union,
again reiterated his country's ongoing claim to sovereignty over Mayotte.
But this raises a problem.
While most observers would agree that the partition was conducted
contrary to international law, the inhabitants nevertheless wished to remain part of France.
They would argue that their right to self-determination must be respected,
even though France faces the consequences of that decision.
Meanwhile, the recent events on the island of Mayotte have graphically shown how the
effects of a colonial partition can not only still be felt many decades later,
but have the potential to become points of crisis.
The question, of course, is what can or should be done about it.
I hope you found that helpful. If so, here's another video that you might find interesting.
Thanks so much for watching and see you in the next video.