2023-05-22 07:39:37
The operation was expected. Excavators went into action this Monday morning in Mayotte to demolish the unsanitary sheet metal boxes of Talus 2, one of the largest slums in this French territory in the Indian Ocean, the poorest department in France, journalists noted. from AFP. This “stripping” began around 7:30 a.m. local (6:30 a.m. in Paris) in the Majicavo district, in the town of Koungou (north).
The authorities have since April deployed hundreds of police and gendarmes to Mayotte to prepare and carry out a series of interventions by security and social services grouped under the name of “Wuambushu” (“recovery” in Mahoran).
Electricity and water cut off
This operation, which aims to reduce unsanitary housing and expel irregular migrants, mostly from the neighboring Comoros archipelago, had almost come to a standstill since its launch nearly a month ago.
Initially scheduled for April 25, the demolition of the large shantytown called Talus 2 had been suspended by the administrative court, before two new court decisions ruled in favor of the state, the last dating from Wednesday.
Early Monday morning, gendarmes equipped with crowbars entered the homes to check that no one was inside before the start of the demolitions, according to AFP journalists on the spot. Electricity and water were cut off.
135 squares to destroy
From 7:30 a.m. local time, the diggers began to destroy the slum, smashing the hard walls and crushing the sheet metal with a dull metallic sound.
The demolition of Talus 2 “should last all week,” said Psylvia Dewas, responsible for the reduction of illegal housing in the prefecture of Mayotte, to the press. It is a question of destroying 135 sheet metal huts in this informal district, out of a thousand unsanitary dwellings promised to be destroyed in the coming months in Mayotte.
“Wuambushu” is denounced as “brutal”, “anti-poor” and violating the rights of migrants by associations, but supported by elected officials and many Mayotte residents.
Arm wrestling with the Comoros
The operation is the subject of a showdown between Paris and Moroni which led to the suspension of the maritime link between Mayotte and the nearby Comorian island of Anjouan for nearly three weeks. The expulsions of undocumented Comorians were able to resume last Wednesday thanks to the restart of rotations.
Of the estimated 350,000 inhabitants of Mayotte, half do not have French nationality.
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