Not all schools will be able to reopen at the start of the school year on January 13, he warned. “But we want to be able to provide a solution to all families” on this date, he assured, referring among other things to the schooling of students in neighboring Reunion Island.
The water supply, the most critical problem six days after the passage of the cyclone, will however be restored to homes, at least partially, from Saturday, he added.
35 dead and more than 2,500 injured
During his two days in Mayotte, the Head of State, faced with the distress of residents both exasperated and overwhelmed by the damage of the cyclone, promised the general mobilization of the metropolis and warned against “division” . “We are a Nation” and “Mayotte and France, to the end,” he wrote on the social network X in French and Mahorese as he left the archipelago.
On site, the provisional toll now stands at 35 dead and some 2,500 injured, the Interior Ministry announced on Friday. But “it is likely that there are many more victims,” admitted Emmanuel Macron. The cyclone also killed 75 people in Mozambique and at least 13 others in Malawi.
Before taking off, Emmanuel Macron held a meeting of the interministerial crisis unit by videoconference to “transmit to the government and administrations the useful actions to take”, indicated the Elysée. Matignon thus announced in the afternoon a battery of measures, including facilities or deferral of payment of taxes for businesses and individuals.
Determined to “rebuild” the archipelago, in particular through a “special law”, Mr. Macron said he would make controlling immigration a priority and a prerequisite. “We will not be able to resolve the fundamental problems of Mayotte if we do not resolve the problem of illegal immigration,” he said.
In the medium term, it intends to increase, to almost double, the number of deportations to the border from this Indian Ocean territory, which was 22,000 in 2023. Knowing that around a third of the population of Mayotte, more than 100,000 inhabitants, particularly people in an irregular situation coming from neighboring Comoros, live in precarious housing.
“World Cups”
At a service station at the foot of one of these slums, that of Kaweni in Mamoudzou, the residents who are queuing in the hope of getting supplies, particularly to power generators, let their frustration burst forth.
“We are tired. We're fed up. We are thirsty. We are hungry,” lists Yazéa Abdou, a 26-year-old from Mahor, who assures AFPTV that “people sleep at the station”, for lack of anything better.
In the morning, the Head of State went to Tsingoni, a landlocked town in the west of Grande-Terre, the main island of the archipelago. Far from Mamoudzou, the capital, help, water, electricity and food are slow to arrive.
“We want water, water,” several residents implored him. One of them, Badirou Abdou, warns: “Here we are cut off from the world”, there “are people who sleep outside, on the ground… Diseases are going to happen”.
“Already 80 tonnes of food and 50 tonnes of water were distributed in nine municipalities yesterday”, added the resigning Minister of the Interior Bruno Retailleau on liters of water per day”, or a little less than two liters per person, in an area where it is currently over 30 degrees.
“Without France, you would be 10,000 times more in trouble”
During his stroll, Emmanuel Macron crouched down in front of Moinecha Djindani, 70, who blessed him in Mahorese. “You have to look me straight in the eye: I am your mother, I have a child older than you,” she told him, patting his head. “We are fighting to restore water and we are not going to give up,” promised the head of state. “I’m very happy,” agreed the septuagenarian with a laugh.
Thursday, during a sometimes tense first day on these islands ravaged on December 14 by the most violent cyclone in 90 years, Emmanuel Macron was able to see the extent of the damage and the extent of the distress, coping for long periods of time. hours to the impatience, anger and despair of Mahorais who sometimes lost everything.
“If it wasn't France, you would be 10,000 times more in trouble!” the president retorted Thursday in the middle of the shouting crowd, comments which earned him strong criticism from the opposition in Paris. Faced with the controversies aroused by his remarks, the head of state claimed to have responded to “people” from the National Rally who “insulted France (…) by saying we are not doing anything”.
