The Minister of the Interior is expected on the French archipelago which has been plagued by violence for several days. He must announce the broad outlines of a “new major operation”.
First trip for Gérald Darmanin in the company of the new Minister for Overseas Affairs Marie Guévenoux. The two members of the government are expected on Saturday evening on the French archipelago in the Indian Ocean, where crises overlap one another. Lack of drinking water, insecurity, illegal immigration… The Minister of the Interior is expected to announce the guidelines for a “new major operation” on Sunday, February 1.
In recent days, tensions have escalated Mayotte. “Citizen collectives” organize blockades to protest against “insecurity and illegal immigration”. In a press release on Friday, the Interior promised to “renew dialogue with the elected officials of the archipelago and citizens, but also with economic actors whose activity is made difficult by the dams.”
“It’s a Wuambushu 2 operation that is being prepared”
To respond to the anger of these “citizen collectives”, Darmanin comes accompanied by around fifteen gendarmes from the GIGN who will have to “reinforce the numbers on site to carry out strike operations”. According to the minister’s entourage, “it’s an operation Wuambushu 2 which is being prepared”.
In 2023, Operation Wuambushu, carried out by the police in Mayotte, resulted in more than a thousand arrests, the destruction of 400 homes in shanty towns and hundreds of expulsions of migrants.