three weeks after the passage of Cyclone Chido, the feeling of abandonment of the Mahorais while “everything is urgent”

Cyclone Chido which devastated Mayotte three weeks ago was particularly violent in the north of Grande Terre. A territory which feels abandoned by the French state.

The municipal schools of Acoua in Mayotte did not resist Cyclone Chido. Marib Hanaffi, mayor of this town of 5,000 inhabitants, deplores the damage to one of the schools: “So here, you see a high building that has been blown away. You see, the windows are gone, the ceiling is gone with all the electricity. So there is work to be done.”The overwhelmed mayor indicates that there are “schools but there are other things too. There are lots of things to do at the same time.”before adding “in any case we try to keep up the pace”.

“In Mayotte, we always had the impression that the State was not investing enough and for a municipality like us, Acoua, I had the opportunity to say this to Manuel Valls, the Minister of Overseas Territories, continues Marib Hanaffi. People here have the impression of never being served and of being forgotten. As we are a small town, we are not often taken into account.”

According to Youssouf Bacar, the general director of Acoua Services, the evil is deeper. “Unfortunately, everything is urgent here because we are trapped by the distribution of food, homes do not yet have electricity. People are bedridden on medical beds and do not have power. In other localities, there are a few more homes that have electricity while this is less the case in the north. The situation absolutely needs to be changed because it is starting to weigh too heavily on people's lives. “

For the past three days, Acoua has been without running water. Gaël, crane operator at the merchant port of Longoni denounces: “All the other municipalities in Mayotte do not have a source. But we in Acoua have a source up there and the State deprives us of it”. He adds that “Mayotte is taken apart. Mayotte is not part of France, it is suffering, Mayotte is a separate case, it is the France below. Mayotte is suffering”.