Members of the Ré-MaA collective demonstrated this morning in front of the prefecture to demand the evacuation of Mahorais stranded in Reunion since Cyclone Chido and who wish to return home.
“We want to go and help our families.” “Reopen the borders.” There were not many of them this Monday, December 30 in front of the prefecture in Saint-Denis, but the message is clear.
At the call of the Résistance Réunion-Mayotte en Action (Ré-MaA) collective, these few activists came to plead the cause of their fellow Mahorais who wish to return to their island.
Watch the report from Réunion la 1ère:
Cyclone Chido: weak mobilization of the Ré MaA collective before the prefecture
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©Reunion the 1st
It has now been 16 days since the passage of Cyclone Chido and the closure of Pamandzi airport to commercial flights, that these Mahorais who are in Reunion despair of being able to go to their island to help their families and loved ones.
“I had to return on the 14th, the day of the cyclone” explains Sitti Omar, honorary president of the Ré-MaA collective. “I told myself that I was going to be stuck for four days. But since I have a base here, it’s not so serious.”
“But I think of all my compatriots who came for treatment or on vacation and who find themselves outside or almost. Fortunately there is the solidarity of the community that comes into play. But until when? That’s more than fifteen days today and they are all stuck here”she notes.
“We are here to support people who want to return”confirms Abdou Madi Moustoifa.
“We want to go home because we are stuck. Some people don’t know what’s happening in their homes or how their families live.” he describes. “I only heard from my father and my sisters this morning. We can no longer afford a hotel, or even enough to live on. We want to go home.”
“We will continue to demonstrate tomorrow and the day after tomorrow, until commercial flights start again”assures Sitti Omar.
The collective has asked to be received at the prefecture, but will undoubtedly have to wait until the visit of François Bayrou, expected Tuesday December 31 in Reunion.
“We contacted the prefecture to evacuate the people stuck here who are in total distress. They received us. We gave them a list of more than 150 people in addition to those registered on their site” specifies Amina Djoumoi, spokesperson for the Ré-MaA collective.
Watch the intervention of Amina Djoumoi, spokesperson for the Ré-MaA collective on the Réunion la 1ère news:
Amina Djoumoi tray from the Ré MaA collective
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©Reunion the 1st
“Today, we hear that Air Austral can land during the day in Mayotte. We saw that the tower is damaged but in other places hit by Chido they have nevertheless been repaired. Why does this tower remain irreparable? And why There are flights that go down to Mayotte every day that are empty. Why are the Mahorais taken hostage?questions the activist. “We are not asking for the resumption of flights, but the evacuation of these people.”
And to question François Bayrou and the ministers who accompany him on the situation in Mayotte. “In the North, there are ten villages which are devastated and without help, without food, without light, they clean their villages themselves. They must go and see the reality of these suffering families there. wants the survival of our families”insists Amina Djoumoi.
The collective calls on the Mahorese community to demonstrate this Tuesday, December 3, upon the arrival of the interministerial delegation in Reunion.
