Faced with distress, Macron promises to “rebuild” Mayotte

(Keystone-ATS) Faced with the extent of the damage, the Head of State, initially expected for a few hours, announced that he would stay until Friday in the French archipelago in the Indian Ocean in order to visit a shanty town and other areas. set back. And set Monday, December 23 as the day of “national mourning”, with flags at half-mast and a minute of silence throughout France at midday.

Upon his arrival in the morning, and throughout the day, he was confronted with the distress of the residents. And there are many emergencies.

Water, food and electricity

In Cavani, a district of the capital Mamoudzou, a mother of three children told him that the “mobilization” of the State and aid praised by the president, “it is not coming”. “We are completely helpless, we don’t know how to cry, we don’t know how to smile,” she says, before bursting into tears in the arms of Emmanuel Macron, who hugs her for a long time.

The tension is also palpable, at times, during a long exchange with local elected officials in the black brick-walled room of the departmental council.

Houdjati Hairati, municipal councilor, stands up to scold the president. “I don’t want to say thank you for being here because it’s your duty,” she explains. “We are not doing humanitarian work, we are not in Palestine,” she adds, warmly applauded by the audience.

At nightfall, an angry crowd awaits him at Pamandzi, on the island of Petite-Terre opposite Mamoudzou. “Macron resigns! “, “you’re talking nonsense”, say angry young people and mothers to a head of state who cannot express himself and ends up blurting out: “I’m not the cyclone! I am not responsible! »

Faced with these questions, Emmanuel Macron also provides initial answers.

“Telephony will be restored in the coming days,” he reassures. As for the distribution of water and food to compensate for the shortages, they will reach “all the municipalities” of the poorest department in France “by Sunday evening”.

“There will be 50% of electricity restored by tomorrow, roughly the same for water,” the president also promises, before recognizing that for the most “isolated” municipalities, it will be necessary “ several weeks.

Looting

Another emergency is security, as looting has been reported and a curfew has been in effect since Tuesday.

“Mr. President, we are afraid that it will be Haiti! », says one person alarmed by the risks of excesses.

“You will have 1,200 internal security forces deployed on Sunday,” he replies.

As for the students, the objective remains to “prepare for the start of the school year on January 13”.

Emmanuel Macron also announced a “compensation fund” for the uninsured, the amount of which he has not yet revealed. The costs of the damage covered by insurance were estimated between 650 and 800 million euros by the Central Reinsurance Fund, which nevertheless emphasizes that only 6% of individuals in Mayotte have home insurance.

Beyond immediate needs, the President of the Republic is trying to project the archipelago towards reconstruction, promising to “rebuild” Mayotte. He announced a “special law” to speed up deadlines, “derogate from the rules” and facilitate construction sites, like what was done to organize the Olympic Games and rebuild Notre-Dame de Paris in five years.

“We were able to rebuild our cathedral in five years. It would still be a tragedy if we were unable to rebuild Mayotte,” he slips.

While the Head of State did not mention a timetable at this stage, his Prime Minister François Bayrou, from Paris, wanted to be ambitious, citing a potential deadline of “two years”. “I hope we get there. It’s a superhuman, immense task,” he said Thursday evening on France 2.

The objective is to “put an end” to slums and “remove habitats which are both unworthy and dangerous”, explained Emmanuel Macron on site.

Around a third of the population, or more than 100,000 inhabitants, particularly people in an irregular situation coming from neighboring Comoros, live in precarious housing, most of which has been destroyed.

Emmanuel Macron also says he wants to “strengthen the fight against illegal immigration”, which, according to him, weighs on the multiple crises facing the archipelago. In particular, he wants to increase deportations to the border to reach 35,000 or 40,000 per year compared to 22,000 in 2023.

Unrecorded deaths

At the Mamoudzou hospital, where windows were blown out, wards flooded and equipment destroyed, the discussion focused on the very complicated census of the number of deaths, while many localities remain uncontactable. And in Muslim tradition, the deceased are buried as quickly as possible.

According to provisional figures from the Ministry of the Interior, 31 deaths and some 2,500 injuries were officially recorded, while 70% of residents were seriously affected.

“It is likely that there are many more victims,” admitted Emmanuel Macron.

In Mozambique, Cyclone Chibo which hit this African country on Sunday left at least 73 dead.