It shouldn’t have taken a cyclone for the world to focus on Mayotte, France
A devastating cyclone highlights Mayotte, a French overseas territory in the Indian Ocean, where poverty contrasts with its EU status, attracting migrants despite slums and historical ties to colonialism.
I t’s taken a devastating cyclone to bring Mayotte to the world’s attention, though these islands between Mozambique and Madagascar in the Indian Ocean deserved to be in focus for at least the past 50 years.
Why?
— CREDIT: X/FRANCE 24 —
For a simple reason: Mayotte is an oddity. Technically, but not geographically, it’s a part of France. These islands are also the outermost region of the European Union (EU). Most of all, their current status renders them a relic — of a bygone era of European colonialism.
As one of France’s overseas departments, Mayotte has the same status as the departments of Metropolitan France and is a magnet for migrants, both legal and undocumented. Nearly half of Mayotte’s population is foreign, and about a third of the 320,000 residents are thought to be from neighbouring Comoros.
It’s ironic considering the territory is sunk deep in poverty, with at least a third of all Mayotte residents living in slums made up of rows of corrugated sheet metal shacks.
Obviously, the draw is not Mayotte itself but where one might go from here. To France, the EU, anywhere that isn’t the Comoros.
That’s ironic, too, considering the Comoros declared independence from France after decisive referendums, while Mayotte chose to stay with the European power that actually purchased it back in 1841.
One might well wonder why Mayotte chose to stay with France rather than hoe its own row. As already noted, the territory is desperately poor. But it does have French infrastructure and welfare provisions.
And it’s a magnet for those who don’t have even that.
Trade-offs are funny things.
GOING FURTHER
Mayotte cyclone: Aid rushed to French territory with thousands feared dead in ‘horrific’ cyclone | THE INDEPENDENT
Cyclone Chido: many missing in Mayotte as death toll rises in south-east Africa | THE GUARDIAN
Cyclone Chido: Before and after pictures show devastating storm's damage to Mayotte | SKY NEWS
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