While Mayotte has been placed on cyclone pre-alert, the prefecture announces that it has completed the demolition of the Mavadzani shantytown, presented as being the largest clearing operation ever carried out in Mayotte.
The dismantling of the Mavadzani shantytown, in Koungou, is completed after nine days of construction, the prefecture announced this Wednesday, December 11. 466 sheet metal huts were demolished,”the entire building and waste was evacuated“, underline the authorities, referring to “an administrative success, a tactical success and a marker of security for the population.”
The prefecture reports six injured gendarmes, 312 grenades fired, 28 roadblocks and 15 stone attacks since the start of the operation on Monday, December 2. To supervise the operation, nearly 150 gendarmes arrived as reinforcements and remained on the site permanently. The authorities feared reliving the episode of the clearance of the Carobolé slum in 2021, when angry residents set fire to the Koungou town hall.
Out of the population, estimated at 2,000 inhabitants, 236 families were identified by social services as being able to benefit from rehousing. 52 accepted, or less than a quarter. “Most families, in a regular situation, refuse these proposals because the new accommodation, available for a maximum of three months most of the time, is too far from the school. This forces them to take their children out of school, it is inconceivable for them“, explains Daniel Gros, representative of the League for Human Rights (LDH) in Mayotte. “A third of the neighborhood has left since September, with all the materials to rebuild a hut in a neighboring neighborhood“.
This announcement comes shortly before the triggering of the pre-cyclonic alert in Mayotte, in anticipation of the passage of Cyclone Chido at “immediate proximity to the island” this Saturday according to Météo France.
France
