François Bayrou in Mayotte: what is the plan for his trip, two weeks after Cyclone Chido?

Prime Minister François Bayrou will arrive early Monday morning in Mayotte for a visit focused on “concrete solutions” for the inhabitants of the island devastated by Cyclone Chido two weeks ago, AFP learned on Saturday from Matignon.

He will be accompanied by Ministers of State Élisabeth Borne (Education) and Manuel Valls (Overseas) and Ministers Valérie Létard (Housing), Yannick Neuder (Health) and Thani Mohamed Soilihi (Francophonie and International Partnerships).

The day will begin at 7:15 a.m. local time (5:15 a.m. Paris time) with a visit to the Petite Terre desalination plant, followed by that of the Kaweni 2 college in Mamoudzou and the field hospital installed after the cyclone. . Several meetings are planned with economic players, security forces and local elected officials, as well as a tribute ceremony to gendarmerie captain Florian Monnier who died in intervention after the passage of the cyclone.

• 3 A detour through Reunion

  At the end of this day, François Bayrou will speak to the departmental council before going in the evening to the island of Reunion, an important logistical base for aid in Mayotte, located 1,435 kilometers away, where he will continue his visit Tuesday morning before returning to the metropolis.

• 4 “Concrete solutions”

  François Bayrou is going to Mayotte “with the desire to provide concrete solutions to the populations there on issues of education, health, housing”. And “with his experience as a local elected official, who knows how to provide concrete, and above all rapid, responses to meet the needs of both the Mahoraises and the Mahorais,” explains those around him.

  The trip, initially scheduled for Sunday and Monday, was postponed by 24 hours.

• 5 About ten days after Macron

  This trip comes around ten days after that of the President of the Republic, Emmanuel Macron. The latter had already had the opportunity to make initial announcements there, in particular concerning the deployment of internal security forces, but also the establishment of a compensation fund for the uninsured or a “law special” to “rebuild” Mayotte. But he also warned: there will not be a return to normal for “months”.

• 6 “Acts” requested by Olivier Faure

  Friday, in an open letter, the boss of the Socialist Party Olivier Faure demanded “acts” for Mayotte from the Prime Minister, whom he also criticizes for not having gone “immediately” to the site, for having announced the composition of his government on the day of national mourning last Monday and for having “seemed to seek to put the importance of the catastrophe into perspective”.

“The debris continues to pile up, raising fears of health risks, water and food remain rationed, electricity is cut off for half the population in the northwest of the island and in the razed shanty towns, the residents feel abandoned and are waiting for help,” wrote the first secretary of the PS, who also questions the head of government about “the work of listing deceased people.” The human toll still remains very uncertain, with 39 deaths officially recorded and more than 4,000 injured.