Mayotte deprived of the French flag, with the approval of the State. On August 25, 2023, during the opening ceremony of the Indian Ocean Islands Games in Madagascar, the athletes from Reunion parade under the blue-white-red flag… but not their compatriots from Mamoudzou. The island has, however, been a French department in its own right since 2011. The Comoros demanded it, and France gave in, agreeing to replace the tricolor flag with the emblem of the Indian Ocean Games, as is required. use for stateless athletes. Until 2003, the Comoros refused the participation of Mayotte, on the grounds that this French territory belonged to them.
Living in Mayotte means having gotten used to not always being represented, under this claim of the Comoros, which Paris does not always seem to know how to manage. On the Indian Ocean Commission, a regional intergovernmental organization, France sits only on behalf of Reunion Island. The problems of Mayotte are not addressed. “The Comoros refuse any representation of Mayotte, even though France finances 40% of the budget of this structure,” points out Micheline Jacques, senator (LR) from Saint-Barthélemy and president of the senatorial delegation to Overseas. To facilitate its relationship with Moroni, Paris also paid, in 2019, 150 million euros in development aid to the Comoros, an amount set by an framework partnership document between France and the Comoros signed that year. In exchange, local authorities committed to helping Paris better control illegal immigration to Mayotte. But this has not, or rarely, been done: today the number of foreigners living in the French department is estimated at 123,000. According to INSEE, in 2017, 48% of the Mahorean population was of foreign nationality, and 77% of its inhabitants lived below the poverty line, even before the outbreak of Cyclone Chido which ravaged the island, on December 5.
In September 2017, MP (LR) Mansour Kamardine met at the Mayotte prefecture to discuss illegal immigration. He listens, furious, as Luc Hallade, ambassador for the Indian Ocean zone, explains his project for an “archipelago community” between Mayotte and the Comoros, a series of economic agreements to bring the two entities closer together.
At the end of the meeting, the parliamentarian activates his networks. In May 2018, 2,000 people marched in Mamoudzou, the capital of the department. At the National Assembly, Ramlati Ali, MP (LREM) from Mayotte, calls Jean-Yves Le Drian to witness. “The rumor about the Comoros archipelago community is unfounded,” replied the Minister of Foreign Affairs. The initiative is falling by the wayside. “We held three referendums to remain French, it is not to be integrated into the Comoros without our knowledge!”, Mansour Kamardine still complains today.
“France is wrong”
In Mayotte, initiatives for rapprochement with the Comoros are often perceived locally as a desire to get rid of the 101st French department. “Pure paranoia, or political calculation, annoys Alain Christnacht, former advisor for the Interior and Overseas to Lionel Jospin. No one, within the State, is considering separating from Mayotte.” However, within the State, the assimilation of Mayotte to a ball and chain would be widespread. “When you are in an interministerial meeting, there is always someone who gets annoyed and says, ‘Look, they’re fed up with all this money,’ or ‘Since that’s the way it is, let them manage all alone'”, says Vincent Bouvier, former prefect of Mayotte. “I remember meetings where I regularly heard ‘but what did we do in this mess'”, recalls Olivier Nicolas, former advisor to the Minister of Overseas Affairs Victorin Lurel. The expression of frustration, particularly marked at the Quai d’Orsay. “You will always find diplomats to tell you that in terms of international law, France is wrong when it comes to the Comoros in Mayotte,” summarizes a former prefect of the island.
“The Quai never really accepted the results”
The controversy dates back fifty years. In December 1974, Valéry Giscard d’Estaing announced the organization of a referendum on self-determination for the Comoros archipelago, colonized by France in 1841. The result was overwhelmingly in favor of independence (96%). The exception of Mayotte – where 63% of voters want to remain French. Paris then decides to take the result into account island by island. The Comoros gained independence six months later, but Mayotte remained French according to a law adopted in 1975. “It is nonsense from the point of view of international law. Even if no one would have the idea of seriously reconsidering the Frenchness of Mayotte, there is still always the feeling of unease at the Quai d’Orsay, where we are very legalistic”, analyzes Fred Constant, ex-ambassador, author of Overseas geopolitics. Between declassification and (re)valorization (Ed. The Blue Rider).
In April 1976, a new referendum was organized. The overwhelming majority of Mahorais (97.46%) vote against the overseas territory status proposed to them. Mayotte is demanding its increased integration into the Republic. The Frenchness of the island remains contested internationally, with the UN General Assembly condemning France several times. The arrival of François Mitterrand at the Elysée will not facilitate progress. The new president has already condemned the violation of international law of the 1975 law. It was not until 2011, under Sarkozy, that the island became a French department. “Basically, the Quai never really accepted the results of the 1976 referendum,” believes Benoît Lombrière, former adviser in charge of Overseas Territories to Nicolas Sarkozy.
Headaches
In 1979, the visit of a US navy ship to Mayotte was discouraged by its diplomacy. This trip “would unnecessarily upset all Comorians and alarm the Democratic Republic of Madagascar”, we learn in diplomatic cables from the time revealed by WikiLeaks. In these archives written by an American official, we also discover that the latter “discussed the subject with the French”. She deduced that the visit to the ship would also be “inappropriate due to the fact that the French administration would like to get rid of Mayotte, and that it is only forced to keep it under pressure from the European Union and that exerted by a minority group in the National Assembly”.
In 2009, Americans continue to wonder, according to these cables. “With the department of Reunion in the Indian Ocean, what is the need for the costs and headaches caused by Mayotte?” asks an American diplomat. The perplexity would be shared by part of the Quai d’Orsay, accuses the current MP Estelle Youssouffa, follower of a very harsh speech towards the Comorians. “The wait-and-see attitude of diplomats contributes to our isolation. Before social networks, no one saw us or heard us. The Quai highlights the words of the Comorians, to the detriment of that of the Mahorais,” she says. “It is normal that the Quai has this prism in favor of the Comoros since it is the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, analyzes Fred Constant. Its vocation is to go international.”
Differences that Benoît Lombrière summarizes: “I remember attending several meetings with the ‘Africa’ Directorate of the Quai, who tried to sell me, in four or five different ways, the benefits of ‘reinforced political integration’ or ‘a ‘large free trade zone’ with the Comoros All this would have led to the dilution of Mayotte in the Comoros, until its disappearance. Fifteen years later, this remorse continues to poison the political climate in Mayotte.
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